Hope Cohousing, a community interest company, is working to establish a small cohousing project for older people in St Margaret’s Hope. The accommodation will be a lasting community benefit to Orkney.

On Saturday 7 June members of the Hope Co-housing team were in Stromness Community Centre to give an update on where the project is now.

It is so tantalisingly close to construction.

Like so many great projects it is all down to funding. They have the land. They have the architect plans. They have some funding, but to get to the final phase – to construct these affordable properties, finance is needed.

The proposed site for the Hope Cohousing development is currently a grass-covered sloping field in St Margaret’s Hope, South Ronaldsay. The housing will be for older people so that they can continue to live independently but with the security of a shared complex.

The houses have been designed to be energy efficient and energy saving, with community at its heart. Co-housing projects like this one enable older people to continue to live independently and reduce loneliness, contributing to the mental wellbeing of residents.

The Hope Co-housing team remain positive that they will see their project completed and the homes built.

The Housing (Scotland) Bill

The Housing (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on 26 March 2024 and is now at Stage 3. Several amendments were lodged as the Bill made its progress through the Scottish Parliament and more can be added at Stage 3. The Bill which was brought forward by the SNP Scottish Government makes changes in the law in relation to housing. These changes cover protections for tenants, preventing homelessness, and other housing matters.

Over a year ago MSPs agreed that there was a Housing Emergency in Scotland.

The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee published its Housing Inquiry report  on 15 May 2025. It identified that the housing emergency has been years in the making as a result of systemic issues, such as failure of wages to keep up with increasing house and rental prices.  – SPICe

The Scottish Government set out 3 key actions to address the emergency these included more quality, permanent homes; the right homes in the right places; and a permanent home for everyone.

In terms of housing supply, work is still ongoing to meet the Scottish Government’s long-term target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2031.

Investment in social housing is resulting in an overall increase in the number of social homes. Recent statistics show that there are around 633,000 social homes in Scotland, an increase of just over 6,100 since the previous year. The Scottish Government also points to its comparatively good performance in delivering new social homes compared to other UK nations.

Despite this, there are signs that turnover of social lets is slowing down and social landlords have to balance investment in new homes with investment in the retrofitting of existing stock.  At current levels of approvals and starts under the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, the 110,000 target looks like it could be difficult to meet. 

The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee recognised the complexity of the housing system with multiple areas where government and other bodies need to work together to bring about change and improvement. It called on the Scottish Government to take a whole-systems approach to tackling the housing emergency said that the Scottish Government should develop a national overarching Housing Emergency Action Plan with clear milestones and outcomes. The Scottish Government will respond to this report later. – SPICe

Hope Co-Housing have two further public events planned in Orkney this year:

Fiona Grahame

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