On Tuesday 28 September, SFHA Senior Policy Manager Stacey Dingwall gave evidence to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on priorities for housing and planning for session six of the Scottish Parliament. SFHA gave evidence along with other sector partners, including ALACHO, CIH Scotland, RTPI, Homes for Scotland, Living Rent, and Planning Democracy.
The committee posed a range of questions to the panel, covering investment levels in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, net zero targets, National Planning Framework Four, homelessness, Covid recovery, and 20-minute neighbourhoods.
SFHA shared members’ priorities and challenges with the committee, particularly around the rising costs of development and current issues with the supply chain in terms of access to materials and labour. The report of the Zero Emissions in Social Housing Taskforce (ZEST) was noted, including the need for an urgent review of EESSH2 following research from SFHA and Changeworks earlier in the year which identified that the significant investment needed from RSLs to meet this target would not have an equivalent impact on fuel poverty levels.
SFHA welcomed the opportunity to discuss these key issues with the committee and look forward to continuing engagement over the course of this parliament.
