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You had your say! Read the YIN Housing Challenge Report here
Since 2022 young people from across the islands have told us what is important to them in their island community; the top two recurring issues were Transport and Housing. Read our report to find out more on Housing in the islands from the young people’s perspective.
The Young Islanders Network created a challenge, inviting young people from the Scottish Islands between the ages of 12-25 years old to take part, through a short online form. The form asked 11 questions with a mixture of multiple choice and open ended questions. In total 223 young people took part from across Shetland, Orkney, Western Isles, Skye, Tiree, Mull, Colonsay, Island and Jura, Bute, Arran, Cumbrae and Lismore.
Map representing where participants of the Housing Challenge were from
Some of the key issues which are highlighted in the report include concerns that young people find it difficult to afford to live where they want to live, often due to the impact of second homes and holiday lets on the local housing market or availability of affordable private lets. There are concerns about the waiting times for social housing and the quality of housing.
I believe that Tiree has more holiday homes than home for locals (Tiree)
Young islander from Arran discussing their local housing issues
It makes it impossible to recruit staff for the school i work at (colonsay)
Housing was not the raised as a stand alone issue, as it was highlighted that cost of living, transport links, connectivity and employment opportunities are also important to young people when considering where they live.
Rents are too high as food and electricity are so expensive, unable to balance small income especially in single person household (Lewis)
Extract from YIN Housing challenge report 2024
One of the most stark statistics from the report highlighted that 72% of the young people who responded think that they will need to leave the island they live in when they are older due to a lack of available or suitable housing. When discussing population retention and attraction, looking further into potential rational behind youth mobility around population, this number is concerning for the future of our islands.
Here is the full report. We hope that you will find the report informative and insightful. We encourage you to continue to support us to speak to decision makers to highlight these concerns so that change can be made for us to live in our island communities now and for the future.
