Having lived in 4 relatively impoverished communities in Scotland (Greenock – Inverclyde, Irvine – North Ayrshire, Central Glasgow – Glasgow City and now Central Paisley – Renfrewshire) I found all to have similarities in that all have many unused and derelict buildings and spaces.
In tandem with this – all these communities have notable issues with homelessness as well as disproportionately fewer youth opportunities & higher substance abuse issues, compared to other areas.
Left undeveloped, these derelict spaces only seem to promote cycles of adversity and antisocial behaviour and add no value to our communities (for example in the case of disused buildings of University of the West of Scotland’s Thornly Park Campus in Paisley which have recently been targeted by arsonists as reported in the Daily Record on 17th July 2020).
Scotland’s relationship with homelessness is well documented - between 2018 and 2019 - 36,465 homelessness applications were made, and 29,894 households were assessed as homeless by their local authority (as per Scottish Government statistics bulletin Homelessness in Scotland 2018-2019). These figures are shockingly high and do not support or promote a modern and progressive Scotland. Opportunity begets success and I believe utilising derelict spaces to create safe living environments would tackle homelessness and benefit communities simultaneously.