Members of Orkney’s Hope Cohousing CIC (Community Interest Company) are off to Edinburgh to a reception at the Scottish Parliament on 21st January.

Hosted by Ariane Burgess MSP, ‘Housing Emergency: Community Response’ has been organised by the charity Cohousing Scotland who are the umbrella body for the Scottish Cohousing Movement. The intention is to highlight the role cohousing can play in helping to deal with Scotland’s housing and loneliness crises.

Cohousing communities are created and run by their residents. Each household has a self-contained home as well as access to shared amenities and communal spaces. Such communities are common in both Europe and North America – and in England – but why are there none yet in Scotland? Cohousing Scotland are seeking support from the Scottish Government to enable pilot projects to demonstrate the value of this community-led housing model.

The Hope Cohousing project is shovel ready and would become the first Scottish cohousing pilot project.

Jenny Rambridge from Hope Cohousing said:

‘We’re thrilled to be part of this event. Being a pilot project could help us to get the build started this year. We have worked for 6 years and now we are shovel ready. The project in St Margaret’s Hope offers 6 new eco-aware, affordable rental homes for older people wanting to live independently within a supportive community. “

You can find out more details at https://hopecohousing.org/

Tom Morton, Convenor Cohousing Scotland :

‘Cohousing presents a real opportunity for Scotland’s communities to provide housing as local investment in wellbeing and resilience, tackling isolation and inequality through mutual, not-for-profit development. We’ve seen it work across Europe for twenty years, but projects in Scotland have died time after time because of a lack of strategic enablement by government.

“In Orkney, it’s make or break time for a shovel-ready project, and we look forward to this opportunity to refresh the dialogue with parliament and find the practical pathways that have proved so elusive in the past.’

Free tickets to attend either online or in person at https://housing21jan.eventbrite.co.uk/