Project launch: Transforming the Housing System in Scotland

Past Event: Thursday 19th September 2024

The David Hume Institute launched new programme of work on Thursday 19th September with Professor Duncan Maclennan to look at the actions needed to transform the housing system in Scotland.

The work will look at the actions needed in the whole system from homelessness, unaffordable rents and planning, to skills shortages and supply-chain issues.

Duncan has had a long and internationally distinguished career as an applied economist specialising in housing, neighbourhoods and cities.

His professional roles have spanned senior positions in both academic and government settings, in the UK, Canada and Australia. At the University of Glasgow in the 1980s he established and led the Centre for Housing and Urban Research, and in the 1990s directed the ESRC Cities and Competitiveness Program and Joseph Rowntree Foundation programs on Housing Finance, Housing and the Macro-Economy and Housing and Area Regeneration.

The Great Risk Transfer: have we got the balance right?

Past event: 3rd October 2022

This David Hume Institute event heard findings from our latest research The Great Risk Transfer: have we got the balance right? published in partnership with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

The research explores what Scotland’s people feel about the shift in the balance of risk from institutions, such as employers and the State, to individuals. From managing pensions to insurance and housing. The discussion provided a chance to reflect on the research and discuss who is benefiting from the new levels of choice in managing the risks in their lives?

Lead researcher, Shelagh Young presented the findings and was joined for reflections by John Taylor, past president of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and Mubin Haq, Chief Executive of the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust.

Click to view Shelagh’s slides separately from the event recording.