Focus on Influencing Scotland - April 2026

Welcome to our latest Focus on Influencing Scotland newsletter, which provides an update on our latest policy and influencing work, and my first as the new national director of CIH Scotland.

I have now been in post just short of four months, having taken over from Callum Chomczuk at the beginning of this year, and during that time, I have been busy meeting with members and stakeholders to discuss our shared priorities for housing going forward.

Some recent highlights to share with you all are as follows:

In February, I attended the Scottish Parliament to give evidence to the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee on the draft Private Housing Rent Control (Exempt Property) (Scotland) Regulations 2026, the draft Investigation and Commencement of Repair (Scotland) Regulations 2026, and the draft Council Tax (Variation for Unoccupied Dwellings) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2026. You can catch up on the session here.

Last month, we were delighted to welcome delegates to the SEC in Glasgow for CIH Scotland’s Housing Festival, where over 600 housing professionals, exhibitors, sponsors and speakers came together to learn, debate and share best practice from across the sector and beyond.

The festival saw the launch of our new research, conducted by Indigo House Group, which explores both the strengths and areas for improvement in leadership and culture across Scotland’s social housing sector, and calls for the Scottish Government to introduce a new Scottish Social Housing Charter outcome to recognise the skills and professionalism of housing, which was acknowledged by cabinet secretary for housing Màiri McAllan in her keynote address.

An early morning hustings on the second day of the festival also saw representatives from Scotland’s main political parties, including the cabinet secretary, present their vision for housing ahead of the Scottish parliamentary elections in May.

And a special breakout session on the introduction of a new national housing agency, More Homes Scotland, as announced by the First Minister John Swinney back in January, proved popular and gave delegates the chance to discuss and consider what they would like to see from the new agency going forward. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who attended, and feedback and reflections on the session have been summed up in this great blog from our policy and practice manager Ashley Campbell.

As we count down to the Scottish parliamentary elections next month, the CIH Scotland team also recently hosted a parliamentary drop-in session for MSPs, supported by Paul McLennan MSP, to discuss our priorities for housing, as set out in our manifesto. Developed through a series of workshops, surveys and face-to-face discussions with you, our members, it sets out five key priorities that you believe will help tackle the housing emergency and put the sector on a firm footing for the future.

And finally, the Scottish government is currently seeking views on the following topics: building standards and guidance relating to fire safety, including compliance, and accelerating home-building in Scotland. If your organisation is responding to either consultation and you would like to share your views, please get in touch by emailing scotland@cih.org.

You can also find out more about the consultations in our handy ‘what you need to know’ briefings below:

• What you need to know about the Scottish government’s call for evidence on fire safety and compliance
• What you need to know about the Scottish government’s consultation on accelerating home-building in Scotland

If you have any questions or would like to discuss any of our work in more detail, please get in touch.

Gillian McLees
National director, CIH Scotland
gillian.mclees@cih.org