Yesterday [20th November], Emma held a roundtable with local organisations that provide housing support to people across the Highlands.

The roundtable brought organisations together to discuss the current situation in the Highlands and how everyone could work together with decision-makers and partner organisations to improve the current challenges people are facing.

On the roundtable, Emma said:

“It was great to get organisations together in person to speak about the current situation and what we can all do moving forward to improve housing across the Highlands.

“After experiencing homelessness, I know how isolating and helpless a situation it can be, and how vital these organisations are to providing a bit of hope for folk struggling. Everyone who was around that table spends their life working to make a positive change in the Highlands.

“This roundtable is the first in what I want to be a series of meetings with constituents and people making a difference locally to discuss how to work together to make a real change.

“When you don’t have the security of a roof over your head, you’re vulnerable to so many other things – it impacts folks’ physical and mental health, employment opportunities, education – so, everyone should be contributing to addressing the problem.

“Folk having difficulty finding affordable housing is also a key driver of depopulation in our rural areas. This has an impact on vacancies and local services, so, housing is something we need to get right.

“I am grateful to the organisations who attended what was an extremely productive discussion and I look forward to future events and working closely to improve housing in the Highlands.”