19th August 2026
Demand for social housing across the Highlands remains high, with almost 8,826 households on the Highland Housing Register (HHR).
Housing and Property Committee Chair, Cllr Glynis Campbell Sinclair, said: “The demand for social housing across Highland remains significant and continues to outstrip the number of homes available in many areas. Despite these challenges, the Highland Housing Register continues to ensure that available homes are allocated to those in greatest need, including people experiencing homelessness, households with health needs and those living in unsuitable accommodation.
The important point is that Highland is not an outlier simply because demand for social housing is high — Scotland as a whole is experiencing very strong demand. But Highland has some characteristics that make its problem particularly difficult to solve.
The latest Scottish Government figures show 180,074 applications on local authority or common housing registers at 31 March 2025, the highest level since 2013. That was up 1% on the previous year. However, these figures need some caution because people can apply to more than one council and six authorities, including Glasgow, no longer have council housing stock and therefore do not appear in the figures in the same way.
Where Highland sits
Highland had 8,767 applications on its Housing Register at 31 March 2025, up from 8,618 a year earlier. More importantly, the latest Highland figures show that this rose again to 8,826 by 31 March 2026, despite the council and its housing partners making 1,592 allocations of secure tenancies during 2025/26.
That tells us something quite important: Highland is not simply failing to allocate homes. It is allocating a substantial number of properties but demand is continuing to replenish the waiting list.
Highland's own figures also show the nature of the problem. About 70% of applications were from households who were not already tenants of a Highland Housing Register landlord. Just over half of those were privately renting or living with family, while 10% were classified as homeless under the national legislation. Half of all applicants were single people.
There is also a striking geographical problem. Inverness accounts for 40.78% of first-choice applications, followed by Lochaber at 10.76% and East Ross at 8.69%. Yet only 11.5% of Highland's lets were made in Inverness, demonstrating that the areas where people most want to live are not necessarily the areas where sufficient social housing is available.
But is Highland worse than other councils?
Not necessarily — and this is where the comparison gets interesting.
For example, Fife had 14,962 applications in the Scottish Government's 2026/27 local-government finance data, while North Lanarkshire had 13,266 and Glasgow's 37,237 figure illustrates the enormous scale of housing demand in the country's largest urban authority. Highland's figure of around 8,800 is therefore not exceptional in absolute terms.
But comparing raw numbers is potentially misleading.
Highland has a population of roughly 240,000 spread across an enormous geographical area. Its social housing problem is therefore much more dispersed than that of Glasgow, Dundee or North Lanarkshire. A shortage of 100 houses in a remote Highland community can be considerably more difficult to resolve than a shortage of 100 houses in a densely populated urban area.
There is another important difference: Highland has relatively little social housing compared with the size of its housing market. A 2022 analysis of Highland Council's own figures put social housing at around 23% of the area's housing stock, compared with roughly 31% across Scotland at the time.
And Highland's latest Housing Challenge report reveals another unusual feature: the council has 2,466 long-term empty properties, more than any other Scottish local authority. Forty-one per cent have been empty for more than three years. The council itself points out that empty homes are particularly prevalent in remote and rural parts of Scotland.
That produces an intriguing contradiction: Highland can have a serious shortage of affordable homes at the same time as having thousands of empty properties. Of course, an empty rural cottage is not necessarily a practical replacement for a social rented home in Inverness, Wick or another high-demand community. But it demonstrates that the problem is not simply about building more houses; it is also about where homes are located, what condition they are in, who owns them and whether they can realistically be brought back into use.
The national picture is actually getting worse
The Scottish Government's latest statistics put the issue into wider perspective.
There were 638,065 homes in Scotland's social rented sector at March 2025, including 327,746 local-authority homes and 310,319 housing-association homes. During 2024/25, councils made 26,602 permanent lettings. Nearly half — 49% — went to homeless households, while 25% went to people on waiting lists and 21% were transfers to existing tenants.
That allocation pattern is significant.
It means councils are increasingly having to use their limited supply of social housing to deal with homelessness as well as ordinary housing demand. Every home allocated to someone who has become homeless is, understandably, unavailable to someone who may have been waiting for years for a suitable social rented property.
So Highland is part of a much wider Scottish problem.
Where Highland may actually be more vulnerable
The strongest argument is not that Highland has the worst social housing shortage in Scotland, because the available evidence does not support that simple conclusion.
The stronger argument is that Highland has a particularly difficult version of the Scottish housing crisis.
It combines high demand with rural geography, relatively limited social housing, expensive construction, difficult land availability, pressure from tourism and second homes in some communities, a constrained private rented sector and a mismatch between where housing is available and where people need it.
And the council's own latest figures show that the problem isn't standing still. Applications increased from 8,767 to 8,826 during the year to March 2026, despite 1,592 secure tenancies being allocated. Meanwhile, total house completions across all tenures fell from 1,000 to 880, although affordable completions actually reached 499.
That is perhaps the most revealing comparison of all.
Highland does not have a uniquely Scottish housing crisis. It has a Scottish housing crisis with some uniquely Highland complications.
And there is a particularly important question for Caithness. The headline Highland figure is dominated by demand around Inverness, but that doesn't necessarily mean the situation in Caithness is comfortable. A relatively small waiting list in a rural area can mask a very serious problem if there are few new houses being built, an ageing population, limited private rental accommodation and little choice for young people and families.
A new annual performance review shows that 8,826 households were registered for housing or transfers through the Highland Housing Register, which provides a single application process for social landlords across Highland.
There is strong demand for smaller homes, with half of all applicants being single people. Inverness remains the most popular area, with 42% of applicants choosing it as their first preference. However, limited housing supply means only 29% of available homes are located there.
During 2025/26, a total of 1,592 households were housed through the Highland Housing Register. While the number of social rented homes increased overall, fewer properties became available for re-let as more tenants successfully sustained their tenancies and remained in their homes.
The Highland Housing Register continues to allocate homes to those with the greatest housing need. More than half of all homes let during the year, 891 properties or 56%, were allocated to households experiencing homelessness. This represents an increase of 4% compared with the previous year and reflects the commitment of Highland Council and its housing partners to help people move into permanent homes as quickly as possible.
The report highlights positive outcomes for other priority groups. Around one in five households housed had health-related housing needs, while almost one in five had been living in overcrowded accommodation.
Partnership working also helped support some of the most vulnerable people in Highland communities. During the year:
13 households moved into their first independent living tenancy, including people with complex health and support needs.
14 care-experienced young people were housed through the Highland Protocol.
23 current and former members of the Armed Forces secured housing through the Highland Housing Register.
The report notes that many applicants would consider other housing options if more properties were available, including private rented housing, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership.
Highland Council and its housing partners continue to work together through initiatives including the Highland Housing Challenge, the Local Housing Strategy and the Strategic Housing Investment Programme to increase the supply of affordable homes across Highland.
The annual review concluded that, while housing demand remains high, the Highland Housing Register continues to perform well in prioritising those with the greatest housing need and supporting stronger, healthier communities across Highland.