Moray Housing Needs and Demand Assessment - Key Worker Research and Consultation Event May 2023

Moray Council has commissioned Arneil Johnston to undertake a Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA).

HNDAs are designed to give broad, long-term estimates of future housing need and provide an evidence base to inform housing policy decisions in the land allocation process for Local Development Plans and the Local Housing Strategy. A programme of works has been agreed with Moray Council including research, analysis, scenario planning and stakeholder consultation.

At a recent stakeholder consultation event it was highlighted that affordability in the private housing market is also a major challenge for private sector workers and this can cause significant impacts on local employers struggling to recruit and retain employees. Click here to view the report on the outcomes of the event.

The process to deliver the 2023 Moray Housing Need & Demand Assessment (HNDA) was launched by Housing Market Partners in August 2022. Arneil Johnston has been commissioned to produce the HNDA on behalf of Moray Council. The HNDA will estimate the number of new homes needed across the Moray area over the next 20 years and is a key process in ensuring there is a sufficient supply of accommodation in the area to support the growth and development of the Moray economy.

Consultation with stakeholders has revealed that many local employers are struggling to recruit and retain staff due to a shortage of housing options across the Moray area. To explore this issue further, a key worker housing workshop will be held on 23^rd of May where local employers can discuss the extent and nature of the problem as well as potential solutions. Invitations for this event will be released on Monday 1^st May and employers will be asked book places for colleagues in each organisation

To inform the debate, we would be extremely grateful if you could complete the following short survey which aims to evidence the extent to which housing shortage is having an impact of business growth, recruitment and retention: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/PL6NR8M.

It should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. All responses will anonymous and confidential and used only for the purposes of the research.

Arneil Johnston are holding a key worker consultation event at 10am, on Tuesday 23 May 2023 via Teams and will also be undertaking a short pre-event survey to quantify the challenges being faced with recruitment and retention to assist with developing the evidence base. The event will also include representatives from Health, MOD, the Council and other organisations facing challenges with recruitment and retention due to housing affordability.

If your business would like the opportunity to take part in the short survey and consultation event to inform the future housing needs of workers in the private sector, please can you e-mail Katy McBride at, kmcbride@arneil-johnston.co.uk

Please provide the relevant contact details for the best person in your organisation to complete the short survey and the contacts details for attendance at the consultation event on the 23 May 2023.