Home Scotland to roll out estate regeneration programme

An award-winning Scottish housing association is to roll out a community regeneration programme across the country after successful piloting the scheme in Edinburgh.

Working with its residents, Home Scotland has identified the areas in Dumfries, Glasgow and Dundee where its Building Communities re:generation programme will focus on.

They are the Mill O’ Mains area of Dundee, the Newbridge area of Dumfries and the Garthamlock area of Glasgow.

It follows a shot pilot carried out in the Southhouse area of Edinburgh where Home Scotland manages 246 homes.

The programme is designed to benefit Home Scotland tenants and the communities they live in. Focusing on employment, learning and financial inclusion, it also helps tenants and others living in the community to identify other improvements to their area and their own lives.

During the pilot in Southhouse, Home Scotland discovered that employability and training were not an immediate priority for the local community, but that issues such as anti-social behaviour, youth issues and green spaces were.

Following the pilot, local people have worked with Home Scotland, its Edinburgh & Rosyth Area Committee (which includes Home Scotland customers) and a number of partners to develop a Southhouse Plan for 2009/12.

The plan has three key themes - building trust and confidence (involving such things as staging community action events and organising a big green challenge), reaching out (involving projects relating to young people, health and well being and access to information) and money, jobs and learning (Home Scotland’s three priorities).

Home Scotland is also looking to make more use of Credit Unions, establish a welfare rights surgery in the new Southhouse Community Centre and setting up a gardening club, as well as continuing to develop links with partner agencies.

Home Scotland staff in Dundee, Dumfries and Glasgow are now working with their local communities to identify the priorities for the areas that have been chosen for the community regeneration scheme.