It is becoming hard for most to get social housing in strath and wider Highlands, report confirms
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There is not enough social housing to keep up with demand in certain areas of the Highlands, according to a council report.
Almost half of total social housing applications are for Inverness where applications jumped by 10 per cent last year.
Several other areas including Badenoch and Strathspey, Wester Ross, Nairn and Lochaber are also under pressure.
In high demand areas, more than 50 per cent of allocations go to people who are technically homeless.
Highland Council works with six social housing partners, which together provide 20,000 social houses across the region.
But as applications soar post-Covid, housing bosses say they can not keep up with demand in some areas.
Lockdown backlog taking its toll
If 20,000 sounds like a lot, it’s actually 23 per cent of the housing market – eight per cent lower than the national average.
Across Scotland, 31 per cent of properties are social housing so the Highlands has comparatively low stocks.
In 2021/22, the council and its social housing partners dealt with 9416 new housing or transfer applications. It allocated homes to 2033 applicants in the same year.
Wind the clock back to before the pandemic, and there were 7785 applications and 1292 allocations.
The increase was caused by Scottish Government lockdown restrictions on moving to a new home.
When the restrictions lifted, social housing providers faced a backlog of applications.
Highland Council says the latest figures suggest demand is now starting to return to pre-pandemic levels.
More homes for young, single people
The figures are part of a detailed annual performance report which went before members of the Highland Council housing committee yesterday.
It shows that the majority of new social housing applications come from single people who make up around half of the waiting list. A further 10 per cent of applicants are couples.
For many, their housing situation is precarious.
While half live in private rented accommodation or with family, one in 10 is in temporary homeless accommodation.
Unsurprisingly, the highest demand is in the city.
Inverness makes up 47.5 per cent of applications, followed by 15.6 per cent in Ross and Cromarty and 12.7 per cent in Lochaber.
Applications for Inverness increased by 10 per cent in the last year alone.
In some areas, high demand coupled with a shortage of homes has created major pressures. The worst affected is Badenoch and Strathspey – the focus of intense housing debate recently, as the council seeks to implement a rent control zone.
The report states: “Demand for social housing remains high and, in many areas, the available housing available for let cannot meet demand.
“This continues to place additional pressure on the many households living in accommodation that does not meet their current needs.”
Homelessness a big concern
Moreover, some applicants do not have any accommodation at all. Across the Highlands, there are more than 1000 people living in homeless shelters or ‘homeless at home’ – in other words, awaiting eviction.
Many of the people in this situation are young people or families with children, particularly in Inverness.
Highland Council and its partners provide homelessness ‘points’ to these applications.
As a result, 50 per cent of the Highlands' social housing is allocated to homeless people.
In some areas it is even higher – more than 60 per cent in Skye and Lochalsh, and well over half in Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey. The figure for the strath is 53.2 per cent.
The council report highlights an urgent need to build smaller homes suitable for single people, especially in Inverness.
The annual report also includes the headlines of a housing policy review that will go to the housing committee in the near future.
The policy review is likely to propose more support for re-housing victims of domestic violence and applicants who need specialist homes. It will also look at an overall review of the points-based allocation system.
However, the council is clear that the problem does not lie with the system itself but with a severe shortage of social housing in most of the region.
Housing bosses plan to do more to promote low-cost ownership and affordable private rent – but as the cost of living crisis continues to bite, it could be a hard sell.
Read the full Highland Council housing register report here
