SFHA at Scottish Conservative Conference

Last Friday SFHA were at the Scottish Conservative Conference where we hosted our own fringe event, attended other discussions throughout the day and met with various MSPs and MPs. 

Our fringe focused on the role of housing associations and co-operatives as social purpose organisations often run, in effect, as businesses. The event was chaired by Carolyn Lochhead of SFHA and the panel consisted of Meghan Gallacher MSP, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Housing, and Jon Turner, Chief Executive of Link Group. It was well attended, particularly by Conservative Councillors, and the conversation ran on for long after the scheduled time.  

Carolyn opened the session by laying out what it is our member housing associations and co-operatives do for their tenants, communities and the wider Scottish economy, as well as how they operate in terms of business plans and borrowing capacities. Jon then did a fantastic job of contexualising this for the audience by discussing in depth how Link Group operate, highlighting that Link’s work has an economic value of 2:1 on investment and a social value return of 5:1.  

There were a number of questions from the floor on topics ranging from skills and there being shortages in certain industries and parts of the country, what role local authorities can play in ending the housing emergency and supporting housing associations, and access to land and how difficult this can be in some areas. The audience were definitely engaged and keen to hear the perspective of housing associations. 

Earlier in the day, Meghan Gallacher hosted her own discussion on what can be done to tackle the housing emergency. It is positive to see the issue being given such prominence by all the political parties, and there seems to be a real willingness to engage in the issue. Although there is mostly a consensus on the nature of the problem, it can sometimes feel like the main parties are struggling to identify solutions.  

Beyond these events, we also held numerous meetings with MSPs and MPs where we discussed a range of issues including; the RTS switch off, homelessness prevention and allocations, cladding and funding pathways for RSLs, Mid-Market Rent and exemptions from rent control, net zero heat standards for social housing, amongst other topics. 

As always, we continue to use party conferences as an opportunity to raise awareness of the work our members do across the country and gain support for the sector across the Scottish Parliament.