Equality in Housing

For this special episode we were delighted to be invited by the Chartered Institute of Housing to record live amongst the bustle of Scotland’s Housing Festival. We were joined by then Senior Policy Officer for Crisis Scotland, Rhiannon Sims. We spoke to Rhiannon about equalities in the current Scottish Housing Climate, about the concept of “reasonableness” and disadvantage in accessing housing and homelessness, and connecting knowledge with practice.

Podcast notes:

Crisis Scotland

In this episode we speak to Emma Hock, Research Follow at the University of Sheffield, about her work looking at housing insecurity and its impacts on the health and wellbeing of children and young people. Amongst her findings, she discusses impacts including isolation, loss of friendship, negative effects on mental health, and access to education and healthcare. She also looks at what families are doing to improve the lives of young people, and what housing providers could be doing better to support them to mitigate the negative effects.

Notes

For our first episode of 2024, we have a conversation with Francis Burrows, Director of Support and Service Development for Housing Association Orbit. 

Francis talks about the work the organisation does to engage with their tenants, particularly underrepresented groups, and how that work informs their policies and processes in how they support them.

Notes:

This special episode was recorded in front of a Live Audience at SCVO’s The Gathering event at the EICC in Edinburgh. We are joined by a panel of speakers, comprising of Gordon MacRae, Assistant Director of Shelter Scotland, Aer Nicholson Clasby, who leads on Third Sector Human Rights and Equalities, and Iain Chisholm, New Migrants Action Project Leader at Positive Action in Housing. This episode takes a zoomed out look at equality in housing in Scotland through a third sector lens.

In this bonus episode, following on from our episode with Emily Edwards of the Scottish Refugee Council, we speak to Ryan Powell, Reader in Urban Studies in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield. Ryan spoke to us about the Migrant Youth Integration in Europe project, the research undertaken by the project, and the findings around the experience of young migrants in the UK, and the exclusions and displacement that they face.

The Migrant Youth Integration in Europe project

In this episode, we have a sobering conversation with Emily Edwards, Housing Development Officer for the Scottish Refugee Council. Emily spoke about the current challenges in claiming asylum in the UK, further challenges in the supply and standard of housing for refugees and migrants, and the importance of community integration, amongst a host of other things.

A note on this episode, we recorded this conversation with Emily in June 2023, before the Illegal Migration Bill was passed into law in July.

In this episode, we have a great conversation with Megan Moffat, Policy and Public Affairs officer for Who Cares? Scotland. Megan tells us about the specific issues faced by Care Leavers in accessing housing, the role of local authorities as a guardian for people in care, and the fight to recognise being care experienced as a protected characteristic.

Podcast notes

In this episode, we speak to Anthony Morrow, Community Connector Manager for Sanctuary Scotland. Anthony spoke to us about Sanctuary’s Housing and Community Connector role, which has been rolled out across the UK, and how it has enabled the organisation to transform their trauma-informed practice.

Podcast Notes:

In this episode we speak to Michael Sanders, Professor of Public Policy at King’s College London, and one of the authors of the Centre for Homelessness Impact’s report on Sexuality, Gender Identity and Homelessness. We talk to Michael about the lack of data surrounding LGBTQ+ people who experience homelessness, the challenges of collecting that data, and measures that can be taken to improve the situation.

Podcast notes:

In this episode of Equality in Housing, we are delighted to be speaking with James Carter and Liz Crowter about what it means to live independently, and some of the challenges that James and his mother-in-law Liz have faced in trying to make this happen. James lives with his partner Heidi, and both have Down's Syndrome. Following on from the Down's Syndrome Act 2022, which will have implications for housing providers, we wanted to hear first hand about the importance of independent living and what the housing sector can do to make this happen for more people.

Podcast notes:

In this episode, we talk to Charlie McMillan, Chief Executive of the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD). Charlie spoke to us about the challenges finding accommodation for people with learning disabilities, in terms of availability and system design, and the value of joined up, holistic approaches.

He also talks about SCLD’s “Include for Good” project, which aims to change societies view of the status, value and contribution of people with learning disabilities by including their voices in research and policy making.

Podcast Notes:

In this conversation we’re joined by Kelly Henderson, founder and CEO of Addressing Domestic Abuse (ADA), a community interest company providing bespoke support to social housing providers and associated supply chains to identify and respond to domestic abuse.

Today we talk about the work Kelly has done with victims and survivors of Domestic Abuse, the ways in which organisations need to work holistically to provide positive outcomes and the way in which all policy, practice and research needs to be people-centred, ensuring that the voices of survivors are recognised in all the work that is done to tackle DA.

Please note that you may find some of this discussion upsetting.

Podcast notes

For our first conversation proper, Pedro Cameron and Dr Gareth Young talk to Chief Executive of Scottish charity Housing Options Scotland, Moira Bayne.

With Moira we discuss the history of the charity, which offers housing advice and information to people with disabilities, older people and members of the Armed Forces across Scotland. Moira shares her thoughts on the power of knowledge, the importance of person centered services, and the barriers that the groups she works with face in accessing housing.

Podcast Notes