Young voices call for better housing
It was great to see such a large youth delegation at the Rural Housing Scotland (RHS) Conference 2024, held at the Macdonald Highland Hotel in Aviemore in February. We heard from several inspiring young people wanting to make a change and getting actively involved in local initiatives. Two of these have kindly written their thoughts on the conference for this blog.
This year the new RHS coordinator, Donna Young, added an additional event before the popular pre-conference dinner – which SEDA Land were asked to organise. We took this opportunity to hold our fourth event about sustainable place making – "Building futures in Rural Scotland 4 – Over To You Holyrood". The aim of the series is to stimulate more sustainable placemaking in rural Scotland in order to reverse depopulation – through a focus on housing, communal spaces, workplaces, economic development and infrastructure, including good broadband connections. At this event we looked at what the Scottish Government can do to speed up the creation of more sustainable communities.
My thoughts about the first evening of the RHS Conference
By Archie Curran
Hi my name is Archie Curran and I am part of the Scottish Youth Action Fife, on whose behalf I attended The Rural Housing Conference in Aviemore in February 2024.
I travelled from Auchterarder to Aviemore by train. Although I didn't know many people when I arrived, I was made welcome and soon made friends. There were lots of opportunities to meet the other delegates who were of all ages and came from a mixture of backgrounds from all over Scotland.
Meeting people at the dinner and drinks reception on the Thursday night was great way to share thoughts on rural housing problems and discuss how we might fix them. We were mixed in with the other delegates at dinner and I sat between Gail Halvorsen and Megan MacInnes from the Applecross Community Company which was fascinating.
My thoughts on rural housing were quite different before attending the conference. I had no idea how bad the situation was across Scotland. My eyes were opened by the SEDA Land discussion that highlighted the number of houses just lying empty or needing to be updated to meet modern standards. I was shocked to learn that one-in-ten households in Raasay live in caravans and that 50% of homes are just laying empty.
As a young person I would like to see an improvement in rural housing as soon as possible including making more use of the existing vacant properties.
Sapphire Arkless is third from the right
My experience of the Rural Housing Conference 2024
By Sapphire Arkless
My name is Sapphire Arkless, I live on the Isle of Tiree and I’m thirteen. I went to the conference with The Young Islanders Network (YIN) as the deputy housing rep.
Ever since I heard about the conference and the possibility of going, I felt
excited to help raise awareness of the housing crisis.
The reason I felt so determined to go, is because of my experience of housing difficulties. Not long ago my family and I were on the verge of having to move off island. We were about to be removed from the house we had been staying in. And due to there being a shortage of houses and no emergency housing for us to move into on Tiree, we were told that we’d have to go to Lochgilphead for emergency housing (104 miles away from Tiree)
We eventually found a permanent home on Tiree. But I don’t want anyone else to go through what we did.
When I got to the airport and heard that my plane from Tiree to Glasgow was cancelled due to technical faults, I made a quick decision to jump on the plane that had just landed, and I headed off to Oban. When I arrived, I must admit I felt a bit nervous. This was my first trip off the island by myself and it had already gone off schedule. I met some people on the plane who were also waiting for the train to Glasgow, and we started a conversation. Whilst we were talking, I found out that one of them was from Transport Scotland, who we (the YIN) had recently met with online. When I eventually got to Glasgow. I met with the rest of the YIN group (who had waited an extra few hours for me), and we all got the train to Aviemore.
When we got to the dinner after lots of travel, I was slightly startled to be the youngest person there. But I still felt welcomed, and really enjoyed meeting and chatting with as many people as possible!
In the morning we all went to breakfast, which I found funny, because I’d never thought about meeting everyone before the conference actually started! After food we signed in and met Paul McLennan (Scotland's housing minister), who got shown the YIN housing report.
As the key speakers started I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people had come with a clear interest in solving the housing crisis.
When the speakers finished we (the YIN group) set up our workshop “Population Renewal”. We had a great turn out of about 30-40 people, including Ariane Burgees MSP and Emma Roddick MSP.
The workshop started with Millie, one of the Resettlement officers, talking about data. Then Kaydence (the other young person on the trip) and myself, took the stage and told everyone about the YIN housing report, what we’d done so far, and where we plan to take it. I was glad to have the opportunity to talk onstage, but it was a bit scary!
Christina, the other resettlement officer, led a group discussion on population retention. And the workshop ended with Emma Roddick MSP giving a short speech, then taking questions from the group. I enjoyed getting to ask a few questions myself.
There was a couple more key speakers, lunch, then another workshop. I chose “Retrofit and Empty Buildings”. I was interested to learn about how retrofitting could be used on Tiree, to bring back the empty houses into permanent use for islanders.
We all congregated to hear the last few key speakers, and then the panel discussion to finish the whole conference.
As I reflect on the conference, I feel that I was so welcomed right from the start, and I’ve learnt so much. From how to speak on stage, to the ins and outs of retrofitting. I’m also very grateful to have had the chance to meet multiple MSP’s and have my say on the future of housing. I hope more young people get the same opportunity that I’ve had.
My thoughts now are, “has the conference helped solve the housing crisis?” I feel that even if it hasn’t solved the problem, it has raised awareness. Helping pave the way to a solution.
Moteh Parrott performing “Our Hands”
Many thanks Archie and Sapphire for your contributions and good luck in your work ahead.