Focus on the Lack of Affordable Housing

Uig & Bernera Development Group are pleased to announce the launch of the Rural Community Housing Project. The initiative will aim to tackle population decline and regenerate the Uig & Bernera, Lochs and Harris communities by creating affordable housing opportunities.

Two years of joing campaigning by the Erisort Trust, North Harris Trust, Harris Development Ltd., Lochs Initiative at the Edge Group and Uig & Bernera Development Group, has led to Communities Scotland, Western Isles Enterprise, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Tighean Innse Gall and the Crofters Commission coming together to support this three-year project.

The funding will enable the partnership to commission in-depth studies of housing supply and demand in the affected areas and to employ a Development Co-ordinator to work with landowners and grazings committees to release land for much-needed housing for local communities
It is also intended to develop a practical methodology that will provide a template for similar projects to be carried out by community groups across the Western Isles long after the project itself has come to an end.

The motivation behind the drive has come from the knowledge that Uig, Bernera, Lochs and Harris are increasingly threatened by fast population decline and the imbalance in the ratio of elderly to young people.

Uig, for example, has lost almost a quarter of its population in the last 30 years, and one third of its population is now over the age of 60.

Surveys and anecdotal evidence have shown that the lack of affordable housing is a major contributing factor to the population imbalance and decline. Schools, local shops and support services are put at risk as a result.

The recruitment process for this 3-year post, employed by Tighean Innse Gall and managed by the partner community groups and agencies, is underway, and it is hoped that a high calibre person will be in place within the next two months to begin tackling this important community issue.

Click here for more background information on the housing issue.