Cabinet Secretary hails Wheatley as a ‘key and trusted partner’

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona Robison MSP, has hailed Wheatley, Scotland’s largest housing, care and property-management group, as a “key and trusted partner”.

Ms Robison was addressing Wheatley Group Board during its penultimate session of the year at the Edinburgh offices of one of its largest social landlord subsidiaries, Dunedin Canmore.

The Cabinet Secretary praised the Group’s strong response to the pandemic and asked new Chair Jo Armstrong to convey her thanks and appreciation to Wheatley staff for their “outstanding efforts”.

On being briefed about the ambitious plans contained in its new five-year strategy, “Your Home, Your Community, Your Future”, Ms Robison acknowledged Wheatley as a “key and trusted” partner of Scottish Government.

The Cabinet Secretary added: “It was good to find out more about the ways in which the Wheatley Group delivered services throughout the pandemic and to hear of their ambitions for the future.

“I welcome Wheatley’s commitment to continue to work with the Scottish Government on all of this going forward and I look forward to our collective efforts to make Scotland a fairer place for everyone.”

Wheatley’s 2021-26 strategy gives the people it works for even more control over services and investment decisions, commits to building 5500 new affordable homes across central and southern Scotland in support of Scottish Government’s “Housing to 2040” vision and accelerates the Group’s transition to carbon-neutral.

It also pledges to create 4000 new jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities and to invest no less than £360 million on the 64,500 affordable homes it owns and manages through Glasgow Housing Association, Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership, Dunedin Canmore, Loretto Housing, West Lothian Housing Partnership and Lowther.

Jo Armstrong, appointed Chair in September, said: “We were delighted to welcome the Cabinet Secretary and hear how we’ve supported customers throughout the pandemic. This has ranged from delivering emergency food packages and supermarket vouchers through our massively-expanded EatWell service to the Emergency Response Fund, which has provided thousands of households in hardship with vital household items, such as cookers and fridges.”

Ms Armstrong added: “It was an opportunity also to outline how we are strengthening local decision making to ensure the voices of tenants are not just heard, but the people we work for are deciding for themselves how money should be invested in their homes and their communities.”