Scottish Government

The conference brought together work carried out by the SCR in partnership with EVH in response to Unlocking the Potential: Supporting the Housing Sector's Contribution to Regeneration.

Delegates were asked to debate the principles of wider role and begin to develop a vision statement that housing associations could sign up to. There were also a number of discussions and presentations on how we can get better at sharing what works, profiling the sector's success and highlighting the contribution that wider role activity makes to communities across Scotland.

>> read the conference Learning Point

Presentations

• Nigel Lowthrop, social entrepreneur and founder of Hill Holt Wood delivered an inspiring keynote presentation on the successful business expansion and diversification of this social enterprise
• Aidan McGuiness from Ederpark HA and Louise Christie from Aspire2gether talked about the approach that they had taken to measuring the impact of their wider role activity
• Peter McDonald and Billy Miller delivered a workshop that described Fyne Homes approach to funding and sustainability
• Patricia Gallacher and Eddy Ferguson from Blairtummnock Housing Association talked about the partnership approach taken by the Easterhouse Housing and Regeneration Alliance (EHRA)
• Heather McNaughton from Castle Rock Edinvar presented on the challenges and principles of their approach to partnership working
• Andrew McDaniel from Fife Housing Association Alliance (FHAA) talked about their wider role strategy and how they manage the challenges associated with this in practice.

Survey

To help create a base-line of information on wider role delivery across the country, the learning network and EVH surveyed housing associations on key issues about the fit of wider role in housing association management.

>> download the survey results