Background Information

• Background
• Staff
• Management Committee

Origins

The Association was set up in 1988 following work undertaken by Shelter, which identified chronic housing need in Lochaber's rural communities. Local communities were under pressure because of the difficulty in accessing rented accommodation. This was largely because of the impact of the Right to Buy on Council housing and the difficulty of accessing owner occupation because of the high property price fuelled by land costs and second and holiday homes. These problems are even more acute in 2006 than they were then, notwithstanding the Associations good work in the intervening period. Lochaber Housing Association is a non profit making body registered with Communities Scotland. The Association is an Industrial and Provident Society and became a registered charity in December 2000 - its rented stock is not, therefore, subject to the Right to Buy.

Services Provided

The prime aim of Lochaber Housing Association is to provide good quality truly affordable housing to help sustain Lochaber's communities. Primarily, this involves developing, through new build or acquisition, properties that are let at affordable rent levels. In addition, the Association has also developed properties for sale under Shared Ownership arrangements and currently (June 2006) manages * properties, * of which are Shared Ownership.

In addition to providing affordable housing, the Association also provides a free Care & Repair service to older owner occupiers to help them access repair and improvement grants and grants for adaptations. This service was set up in 1994 with the support of Highland Council and Communities Scotland. The Association also acts as agents for Communities Scotland in administering and delivering their Rural Home Ownership Grants to aspiring homeowners who could not otherwise afford to compete in the very pricey local housing market and works with various key partnership bodies in order to access funding to develop wider action opportunities to help meet its aims and objectives of sustaining Lochaber's communities. Other activities have also included acting as development agents for Highland Council and the provision of day care centres as well as providing Clerk of Works and other development services to other agencies.

The Association also works closely with the local authority to provide temporary accommodation to assist the Council meet its homelessness obligations under the Housing Act.

Stock Transfer

Lochaber Housing Association completed the transfer of 174 properties from Scottish Homes in March 2002. The Association is now undertaking major repairs to the properties in line with the Business Plan, upon which the transfer was based.

Funding

In terms its of capital programme, the Association receives £1.5 to £2m million on average from Communities Scotland to develop new housing projects as well as ad hoc funding from wider action projects. The Association also receives capital funding from Highland Council to undertake repair improvement and adaptations for Care & Repair in addition to the funding received from Communities Scotland.

The Association primarily relies on rental income to cover its revenue costs, although the Association is able to access specific allowances as part of the development of new projects, and also revenue funding to support Care & Repair.

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Lochaber Housing Association
101 High Street, Fort William, PH33 6DG
Tel: 01397 702530 | Fax: 01397 704141
Email: info@lochaberhousing.org.uk