Affordable Housing | Housing of reasonable quality that is affordable to people on modest incomes. |
Community Regeneration Fund | Funding targeted on the regeneration of Scotland's most deprived neighbourhoods. |
Communities Scotland | An Agency of the Scottish Executive formed in November 2001 to help deliver better housing and regenerate disadvantaged communities. |
Community Ownership | A process whereby local authority housing stock is transferred to non-profit distributing Registered Social Landlords and investment is generated to raise quality standards. |
Community Ownership Programme | A Scottish Executive programme onto which local authorities wishing to move to community ownership must first be accepted. |
Community Planning | A collaboration of community representatives, local councillors, Partnership voluntary and public sector representatives to ensure the more efficient delivery of local services. |
Employment deprived | A person is defined as 'employment deprived' if they want to work but are excluded from the labour market through unemployment, sickness or disability. |
HMOs | Houses in Multiple Occupation. Accommodation shared by three or more people, being members of more than two families. Such properties are licensed by local authorities. |
Homelessness Task Force | A multi-disciplinary task force established by the Scottish Executive to examine the problem of homelessness and to inform policy responses. The task force's work is now being taken forward by the Homelessness Monitoring Group. |
Housing Association | An independent non profit-making organisation which provides low-cost housing for rent or for sale. |
Housing Improvement Task Force | A multi-disciplinary task force established by the Scottish Executive to examine the condition of private sector housing and to make recommendations. It completed its work in 2003. |
Housing Market Area | Areas within which most people live and work and would choose to relocate if moving home but not place of employment. |
Income deprived | A person is defined as 'income deprived' if they are in a household in receipt of Income Support, income-based Job Seekers Allowance, Working Families or Disability Tax Credit below a low-income threshold. |
Local Housing Strategy | A statutory requirement on each local authority, strategies should map out the course between the current operation of the housing system and how the authority, with partners, wants the housing system to operate in future, taking account of national housing priorities and linking with other related strategies, e.g. homelessness. |
Planning Advice Note | Planning Advice Notes (PANs) provide advice on good practice and other relevant information. |
Prudential Borrowing | A borrowing regime allowing local authorities to determine what is affordable for them. In the housing context it is used primarily for investment in affordable housing and improving housing quality. |
Reasonable Preference | Legislation requires that, in selecting tenants for their houses, all social landlords must give due weight to a specified range of categories of vulnerable groups. |
Regeneration Outcome Agreement | The strategic framework which links national and local priorities for tackling disadvantage with spend and activities. |
Registered Social Landlord (RSL) | Social landlords that are registered with Communities Scotland. Most RSLs are housing associations. |
Right to Buy | A scheme under which most local authority tenants and some housing association tenants may buy their homes at a price lower than the full market value - the discount being determined by the length of their tenancy. |
Scottish Housing Quality Standard | A national housing quality target to ensure that warm, dry, decent homes become the norm. |
Scottish Planning Policy | Scottish Planning Policies (SPPs) provide statements of Scottish Executive policy on nationally important land use and other planning matters, supported where appropriate by a locational framework. |
Shared Equity | A means of helping people into home ownership through the purchase of an equity share in a property with the remaining share being held by, for example, a social landlord who would also benefit from any increase in the equity value. |
Shared Ownership | Similar to shared equity but with the owner purchasing part of the property and renting the remainder usually from a social landlord. |
Social Housing/Social Rented Sector | Housing provided by Registered Social Landlords or a local authority at a rent lower than market rent. |
Single Survey | A survey of house condition arranged by the seller and made available to potential buyers. |
Tolerable Standard | A statutory minimum condemnatory standard which all buildings must meet. It focuses on fundamental elements such as structure, water supply, toilet provision and dampness. |