ɬ Council is inviting businesses to give their views on the area’s housing shortage and help gain an insight into the number of new homes needed to enable further economic growth in the region.
Funded by the Scottish Government’s Addressing Depopulation Fund, the council has launched a survey as a part of the ɬ Housing Emergency Action Plan that was agreed by the council in 2024. The survey aims to assess whether local businesses are struggling to recruit or retain staff due to a lack of housing, and whether a shortage of housing is a barrier to growing the economy.
The council’s Policy Lead for Housing, Councillor Jim Lynch, said: “We want local businesses and private sector organisations to give us their views to help tackle workforce housing shortages in the area. This is an opportunity for employers to contribute to meaningful, practical solutions.
“We are keen to hear directly from those organisations impacted by housing issues so we can better support our communities and help make ɬ a place where more people choose to live, work, and flourish. If you know of a business that might be interested, please pass this on. By working together, we can help create a stronger, more resilient future for ɬ.”
The survey findings will feed into the council’s Housing Need and Demand Assessment and provide evidence for further partner engagement to consider alternative models of housing and address the identified needs of employers/workforce.
The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. All responses will be for research purposes only and it will not be possible to identify individual businesses from the responses. The survey is now live and will close on 22 December 2025.
You can access it at the following link:
