Housing Needs Study

If the Local Housing Strategy is to make a difference we need to understand people's housing needs. There are two parts to understanding housing needs: People and Property.

People

In very simple terms we need to understand what kind of people live in East Renfrewshire and how this is likely to change.

e.g. do the people who live in East Renfrewshire form families of two or more people? Are there a lot of single people? What age groups do people fall into? Are people general healthy or are they likely to need some form of care or support? What are people's housing preferences? Can people afford to buy or rent a property in their own community or nearby?

It is quite easy to see that every local authority in Scotland will have different answers to these questions. Indeed, every community in East Renfrewshire may have varying sets of answers to these questions!

Property

When people think about housing issues, they very often think about property issues.

e.g. are buildings run down or poorly maintained? Do certain areas have desirable good quality housing while others have high levels of empty or derelict properties? How energy efficient are peoples' homes? Can they be easily adapted for wheelchairs or other equipment? Are there lead pipes supplying the drinking water? When was the last time the property was rewired? Does it have central heating or double glazing?

These are the types of questions which the Local Housing Strategy addresses.

Further work is being undertaken in order to quantify housing need in the area.