Scottish Housing Day 2024: Reflections on Homes for Life by Kirsty Wells

By Kirsty Wells · 17 September 2024

Today, we celebrate Scottish Housing Day, which has become recognised as a day for us to pause, reflect and consider our sector, its purpose and the amazing people who live and work in housing in Scotland.

The theme of this year’s Scottish Housing Day 2024 is ‘Homes for Life’, and is hosted by the University of Stirling. It is exactly thirty years ago this month that I began my own Postgraduate Diploma in Housing Studies and began life as a Stirling student.

My first experiences of delivering housing services began with my student placements at what was Canmore Housing Association at the time (later to become Dunedin Canmore and now Wheatley East).  I met applicants in housing need, people who were overcrowded, people who could no longer manage stairs and people whose houses had become too big for them, but they were reluctant to leave because of the precious memories they had from the home they’d built with their loved ones.  Some of them I could assist through Canmore policies and others I couldn’t – the young single man living in a homeless hostel after dropping out of Edinburgh Art College who didn’t want to return to his parent’s home in Aberdeen. I remember many of these people that I met on that first student placement – it was my first housing experience. They all wanted a home, not necessarily one for life but one which would give them safety and security.

A Home For Life
We often think about a ‘Home for Life’ meeting our needs as we age – does it work for our less able bodies, can it support us when we receive diagnoses like dementia or Alzheimer’s – but a ‘Home for Life’ should not only be about the bricks and mortar in which we live, it should also be about what makes us happy in that home – are the services we need within the community, are our friends  and family within easy reach? Does it make us feel warm, safe and secure no matter our age?

Today, I reflect on the fact that I’ve built a home for life – so far.  I’ve lived in the same home for almost twenty-three years.  It is the only home my children grew up in – they did not have to move, for any reason, until the age of 18 when they chose to leave home.

But my home has twenty-three stairs over two flights, only has a bathroom on the top level and we are in a rural Borders village which means we must drive everywhere – even for bread and milk.  So, it is probably not a home for life – what happens when the stairs get too much or we can’t drive to the shops? We’ll need to move, and the housing market at the time will dictate what that experience looks and feels like at the time.

So, thirty years since starting my professional housing journey, I may not have a home for life, but I am acutely aware that the home I do have is something that must be appreciated and is deserved by so many more children and families living in insecure accommodation today in Scotland and beyond.

Find out about ARK’s work with Waverley Housing on the regeneration of Upper Langlee in our case study here.

ARK have experts across our range of services who can help Scottish Housing Associations and Local Authorities to achieve their goals. Contact us today to discuss your requirements.