Our Team
The CHMA sits within the Scottish Government's Communities Analytical Services Division and is headed by Andy Park (Senior Economist). Murdo MacPherson (Housing Systems Analyst), Charles Brown (Assistant Statistician) and Lesley Thomson (Knowledge Manager) complete the team. Andy and Charles are professional members of the Government Economic Service ( GES) and the Government Statistics Service ( GSS).
Our Stakeholders
Within Scottish Government we work with policy makers, planners and analysts across several areas of government including: housing supply, planning, regeneration and social justice. We report to the Minister for Housing and Transport and the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Captial Investment. Outwith government we work principally with all Scottish Local Authorities and Planning Authorities and a range of other stakeholders.
Our Remit
Our remit is to provide a centralised support and advice to Local Authorities and Planning Authorites, and others, to aid the strategic planning of housing in Scotland. We provide this through guidance, training and direct liaison with stakeholders. Our main role to date has been to support stakeholders in the preparation of Housing Need and Demand Assessments ( HNDAs) which act to quality assure and formally confirm as 'robust and credible'. Moving forward, we will refresh the Scottish Government HNDA Guidance, based on feedback from stakeholders in order to try to streamline the HNDA process. We will also support stakeholders as they monitor and update their HNDAs.