https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce43g37gr5zo
A Sutherland village has received its first new social housing since the 1990s.
The development in Lairg has four two-bedroom wheelchair accessible bungalows and four one-bedroom 'Fit' homes, which have technology installed to monitor residents' health.
Albyn Housing Society completed the £2.3m project as part of the UK and Scottish government-funded Inverness and Highland City Region Deal.
The new properties were built on land that had been empty since the demolition of a hotel in 2007.
Lairg Community Development Initiatives donated the site of the former Sutherland Arms Hotel.
Fit homes have previously been constructed in Inverness, Nairn, Dingwall and Alness.
The properties are designed to help people with health conditions or disabilities to live independently.
Sensors fitted to doors, windows and cooking appliances can detect changes in a resident's behaviour and share the information with their families or a carer.
by Synthia_of_Kaztropol
2 comments
Questions: How is the housing situation in general in Lairg ? what’s the population like ? are there many unfilled jobs ?
In the context of rural depopulation, will these houses help retain people in these communities ?
It occurs to me that 1 and 2 bedroom houses aren’t really the kind of affordable or social housing that people who want a family would need, which would then lead to questions about the viability of schools and so on.
Overall, the fact that no new social housing has been built in 30 years there is a bit grim.
How do 8 houses cost 2.3m?