It's about investing in people and communities, not in property - Ewan Aitken

Last week, Cyrenians announced that it is the first Scottish partner in the Women in Safe Housing (WiSH) fund, run by social impact property fund managers Resonance Ltd and Patron Capital Ltd.

One of the biggest steps towards building a new life after abuse is safe, affordable housing, says Ewan Aitken

Through the WiSH partnership, the charity is purchasing 30 properties across Edinburgh to provide direct housing and support for women and their families who have experienced domestic abuse.

It’s an exciting new project which will help meet a sadly growing need. Homelessness is on the rise in Scotland, and one in four women facing homelessness say it’s directly because of domestic abuse. One of the biggest steps towards building a new life after abuse is safe, affordable housing – somewhere to call home as long as it’s needed. Through WiSH, we can offer that.

It’s also an attempt, in a small way, to mitigate the biggest challenge in ending homelessness – the lack of affordable housing. The journey out of homelessness takes much more than just providing shelter, but without settled, affordable accommodation, the journey cannot really begin.

Edinburgh had a target last year to build 1,111 social houses. By December 2022 they had built 183.

But this isn’t just about what the City of Edinburgh Council did or didn’t do. 60 per cent of the demand for social housing in Scotland is in Edinburgh, but its local authority only gets 9 per cent of the funding. Social housing should also come through developers building their fair share, but there’s a huge gap between the funding available and the costs of building in Edinburgh. The cost of land, labour and materials means the average gap between the actual cost and what funding will cover is over 65 per cent.

These are the challenges. So what are the solutions? Increasing available funding is certainly one thing which can and should be done. Exploring the purchase of land by the government or enabling councils to buy land so that costs can be spread over many years is another option. The whole issue of land ownership and how it is valued needs to be part of the upcoming land reform bill too. In Finland, for example, the state owns 90 per cent of the land, so has huge influence on what’s built and by whom. Ironically, because the land is largely state-owned, the private housing sector is flourishing, because the price of land is stable and developments are designed collaboratively.

Repurposing office buildings is yet another option. The Scottish Government has made welcome steps towards funding this, though at £150 million, it’s only a start.

Buying houses which are already built, as WiSH is doing, is another way to mitigate the high rental cost within the private rented sector. This of course can only happen if the Local Housing Allowance (the amount of rent that housing benefit can meet, set by the UK Government) keeps pace with the cost of maintaining those purchased houses.

All this costs money, but all the evidence tells us that having a settled, affordable home is at the heart of a healthy, flourishing life. This is about investing in people and communities, not in property, and making that investment, in the longer term, will mean less pressure on other public sector budgets. Our new partnership with WiSH is an example of people-centred change which lasts a lifetime.

Ewan Aitken is CEO of Cyrenians