Islanders have warned that unless more is done to provide affordable housing, life on islands will be “at risk”.
The lack of housing on the Western Isles has been a long-running problem over the past several years.
More and more homes are used as holiday homes, causing prices to rise and pushing locals out of the market.
Many are now having to go to the mainland and are not returning.
Stephen MacDonald’s family have lived in North Uist for generations.
He told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland today: “I’ve moved away from both for five years, and my dream was always to move back here and raise a family myself.
“But housing it’s just one of the main difficulties that we find.
“We’re in that predicament now, where if we aren’t able to find something long term, we are going to have to sadly move away again, try and get a job elsewhere and hopefully, housing elsewhere.”
Lack of affordable homes
The impact of a lack of young people saying in the Western Isles means that many of the traditions, such as Gaelic will no longer be passed down.
According to the local council, the predicated population decline of 6% from 26,830 in 2018 to 25,181 in 2028, is the joint largest percentage decline in Scotland.
Jim Hunter, a history professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands warned in an article for this publication last year: “A generation’s ambitions and life chances were being destroyed by having nowhere to stay”.
‘Existential threat to island life’
He said this has caused a “downward spiral” in which fewer people are on the island to provide jobs, healthcare, and schooling.
Darren Taylor is the chief executive of Storas Uibhist, which is a community-owned crofting company. He told Good Morning Scotland today: “I think it’s really no exaggeration to say housing poses an existential threat to island life.
“If we don’t address the problems that as you say, particularly young people are facing, depopulation will continue and people will move to the mainland for jobs, not because they want to, but because they’re faced with no alternative.”
However, there is hope that a new plan for affordable housing might help to reverse ongoing depopulation.
Possible Solutions
Rural Housing Scotland, which helps rural communities develop solutions to the current housing shortage has a proposal that draws from the islands historic roots.
Donna Young from Rural Housing Scotland told BBC’s Good Morning Scotland today, “A Smart Clachan is a 21st century revival of an old clachan on the islands, where we hope to create a community through shared housing and shared spaces such as gardens, poly clubs, and shared workspaces.”
A clachan is a traditional Scottish hamlet consisting of a few houses that were close-knit communities often working cooperatively on shared land.
Building traditional housing on the islands has always been an expensive process due to the extra costs of materials and labour. The rocky surface also often requires blasting to lay foundations.
Ms Young added: “We’ve already spoken to various people across Scotland, the Inner Hebrides and in the highlands, who are very interested. A lot of community groups and community landowners who want to look at this project to see if they can also do it.”
Conversation