Senior Housing Options Broker Karen Campbell reflects on the impact of our housing emergency on the plans of young disabled people in Scotland looking to live independently.
November 2023, a news bulletin flashed on the TV screen ‘Housing emergency declared in Edinburgh’. I was working in health and social care services at that time, roughly three years out from working in housing. I wondered to myself: “What does a housing emergency mean?”
Fast forward to May 2026 when I started in my role as Senior Housing Options Broker with Housing Options Scotland and returned to a housing role. As well as managing our team of brokers, I carry my own caseload of clients and immediately I could see change was evident – longer waiting times for social housing, finances stretched, the after-effects of the pandemic and a turbulent economy mean many households’ hopes are at rock bottom. If you are a Housing Options Scotland client who is then facing an additional disadvantage of needing for example, a ground floor, fully accessible home or a specific location to enable family support, where do you start?
For one group of clients who approach us, this is exactly the situation they are in. Our Making Moves service started in 2021 and aims to support families who have an adult child living in the family home but who wish to move to living independently.
Some of our clients have spent a number of years exploring options for their young person before they reach us, others are at the very start of their journey, with little knowledge of what could be available to them. Whatever stage they are at, we offer a planning meeting to establish what has happened and to start to explore the options available to them. Often these meetings take place at home, or they can be via video call. If there are other people in the young person’s support network who can attend, this is also helpful – that could be family, social work, care providers or friends.
Our involvement can come at any time but I feel that the earlier we can have that meeting the better really. Often there are options that clients haven’t considered and having that information available at an earlier stage can be really useful. Keeping options open is helpful too. Yes, there might be a tenure or solution that seems like the obvious one, it is good to identify that, but if a client is able to keep their options open this could help when alternative possibilities arise.
We can support clients to ensure they are aware of all social housing providers and how to apply, aware of other tenures such as private renting or mid-market renting. It could be that ownership is possible, through a benefits-based mortgage, often something that clients hadn’t considered.
Stepping back to the question of a housing emergency and by May 2024 fourteen local councils had declared an emergency and a motion in the Scottish Parliament supported the declaration of a national Scottish housing emergency. On the ground, how does that feel for our clients? How does it feel for our staff?
The challenges are certainly there. I think more intensive support is needed, clients’ situations need to be addressed on an individual basis. As a service we continue to be person-centred and find bespoke ways to help, such as through our Making Moves service. Our team need opportunities to discuss how this feels for them in their roles.
I don’t need to turn on the news anymore to find out about the housing emergency – I’m seeing it day-to-day in my work. But there is hope and there is strength in collaboration. Next week I’m attending an event organised by Shelter and Fife Gingerbread called ‘Building Hope: A Home For Every Child’ to discuss the impact of homelessness on children and to rally for change. It’s important to know what we’re doing is building hope and opportunity, and that the hard work that our broker team puts in to helping our clients is invaluable.
For more information about the Building Hope: A Home for Every Child rally, visit Fife Voluntary Action’s website