TOO MANY IN HOUSING NEED NOT BEING COUNTED
Nicola Barclay
Leadership Coach and Mentor; Chair; Non Exec Trustee; Senior Housing Advisor
Yesterday I gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing & Planning Committee as it continues its scrutiny of the draft National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4). While it may sound like a dry topic to many, it is actually of fundamental importance to everyone who calls Scotland home, and even more so to those who are unable to secure a home of their own. ?
At present, the national dataset on housing need takes a very limited view of what constitutes housing need, with only two very acute forms actually counted: homeless households in temporary accommodation and overcrowded households that include at least one concealed family.
But there are many groups that are not included. For example, overcrowded households, say a family with two children, a boy and a girl, but only two bedrooms; they are not counted.?This might be ok when the kids are younger, but not ideal once they reach their teenage years. Another group currently not counted are single person households. So adults living together in a shared flat or a single adult returning to live in their childhood bedroom with their parents are not counted as being in need of their own home.?
There is therefore a huge sector of the population that is being overlooked, they are not in the houses they want to be and are unable to live their lives to the full, starting relationships, having families etc because we are not counting them in the first place.?
I, and many others in the housing and development arena, have a fundamental concern that unless NPF4 is fundamentally adjusted to reflect this issue, housing will not be delivered to the people that need it.
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Managing Director at Persimmon Homes West Scotland
3 年Barrie Cunning - a topic worth covering in one of your columns?
Partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn
3 年Well said Nicola. The public at large (and their elected representatives in parliament) need to understand the extent to which the national plan considers their housing needs. At the moment it clearly doesn’t do it properly
BiGGAR Economics
3 年Good points well made Nicola. The issue of adult children living at home also has economic implications in so far as the parental home may not be ideally placed in terms of job opportunities, potentially limiting both individual potential and business growth
Retired, enjoying life and former Chairman of Safe Deposits Scotland Charitable Trust
3 年Great to see you are making the Scottish Government aware of all the issues to be addressed in terms of housing need / supply