No New Builds and A Surplus of Vacation Rentals Leave Citizens Unable to Find Long-Term Housing
Island life is under threat for residents of the Western Isles off the coast of mainland Scotland due to a massive housing shortage, especially for young residents. According to the islanders, the market is forcing many long-term residents out of their homes and jobs to move to the mainland. Younger generations of residents who have left the island for school, employment, or travel are returning to find a desolate market. They are left with the option to move in with family, go abroad, or go to the mainland.
Islanders name high costs and homes used as short-term vacation rentals as significant factors contributing to the problem. However, the predominant factor to blame for the lack of housing in the Western Isles is the lack of new builds.
The number of residential property sales in the Western Isles in 2021-22 was 423, making it the third lowest among Scotland’s 32 local authority areas. There were also no sales of new-build homes in the Western Isles last year and only 5 in 2020-21. According to the Registers of Scotland’s Property Market Report, the value of residential sales has more than doubled over the past 19 years. In 2021-22, the average house cost was £144,880, and the islands saw the highest proportion of cash sales of all Scottish local authority areas at 54%. According to recent research by the Scottish Government, the Western Isles now has 397 homes and 113 private rooms for rent as short-term vacation stays.
Community landlord Storas Uibhist says more affordable homes are needed to stop the growing rate of depopulation in the Western Isles. Storas Uibhist, which manages the 93’000-acre South Uist Estate, is partnering with Rural Housing Scotland on plans for a small, new modular-home-based community at Lochboisdale on South Uist. The community, dubbed Smart Clachan, is a modern twist on the traditional Scottish clachan - small communities comprising a few homes where citizens share land for livestock and growing food.
According to Smart Clachan development officer Donna Young, the project offers hope. The company Modular West will construct the prefabricated modular homes on Barra and then transport and install them at the Lochboisdale site. The project’s developers hope it will inspire similar developments in other parts of the Western Isles and elsewhere in Scotland.
Younger Generations Forced Off the Western Isles
For more information about the Smart Clachans and the housing crisis in the Western Isles, go to HeraldScotland.com:
“One of those interested in the project is Steven Macdonald, whose family has lived on North Uist for generations.
He said: ‘I moved away from home for five years, and my dream was always to come back here to raise a family myself. Myself and my fiancee have been searching for a house for a good year and a bit now.’ Mr Macdonald said available homes were few and far between, and often expensive, while there were long waiting lists for social housing.
‘My dream would be to build my own house but, again, costs for materials have gone through the roof and land is through the roof as well,’ he said. ‘If we aren’t able to find something long term then we are going to have to sadly move away again.’
It has been a similarly frustrating experience for musician Paul Burgess. He left the Western Isles for Glasgow when he was 18 but, like many other islanders, later returned to the isles to live and work. He said holiday homes were important to the islands’ economy, but he would like to see a greater provision of properties for people who want to live and work in the isles.
‘I have just turned 29 and I am still living at [my parents’] home,’ he said. ‘I want a place of my own in Uist but I’m finding there is nowhere even to rent. Anything that gets built has people waiting to get in – it’s just really hard to find anywhere to live here.’”
From ‘Smart Clachan’ Offers Hope for Islands Badly in Need of Homes - The Herald
Photo Source: WIX - (www.wix.com )
What do you think of the modern twist on the traditional clachan? Is it something you would consider if it was available where you live?
Written by S2A Modular & Associates Inc.
July 1st, 2022