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Each local authority will have empty homes, some of which will be voids, and they are part of the empty homes figures.

There are a couple of ways of thinking about that. A key focus is looking at the issue on a regional basis. That is really important. The focus on the five local authorities—Glasgow City Council, the City of Edinburgh Council, South Lanarkshire Council, Fife Council and West Lothian Council—is based on the evidence that we have. Those local authorities account for roughly 70 to 75 per cent of people, particularly children, in temporary accommodation. It is key that we think about the biggest impact that we can make in a short period.

The focus is on working with those five local authorities. Officials meet them weekly, and sometimes even daily, to talk about specific issues. That is key. Shelter raised the point about having a targeted approach, and it works very closely with local authorities on that basis.

Urgency is shown by working with those five local authorities. That does not discount the other local authorities, but there is clear evidence that those are the five local authorities that we need to focus on to try to bring down the figures.

I come back to my point about the quickest action that we can take to get properties back into use. That can be done through work on voids, acquisitions and empty homes. In Edinburgh, for example, we highlighted the work that was needed to reduce the number of voids. The council has managed to reduce that number by 500 over a short period, and it is looking to get it down to 650. A little more work is still needed, but it is making really good progress.

We are showing urgency by thinking about how we can make the biggest impact in the shortest period of time. That involved working with Shelter on the targeted approach that it wanted us to take.

In Glasgow, for example, the council is doing very well in reducing the number of empty homes. How do we learn lessons from that? It is important that we learn lessons from each local authority. How do we learn how Glasgow has reduced the number of empty homes? It has reduced the number by 50 per cent in a few years. What has it been doing? It has focused a lot of its efforts on compulsory purchases. How do we learn from what has happened with empty homes in Glasgow?

Our work is very much about how we can make the biggest impact most quickly. As I said, I meet Shelter to discuss such actions, and it was represented on the board last week.

Beyond that, we need to continue to build more houses at a quicker pace through the work on, for example, stalled sites and planning.

That was one of the key things that we discussed with stakeholders last week. You will be aware that, when the housing emergency was declared, there was a range of asks from a coalition of stakeholders that came forward. The issue was discussed last week and it will be discussed at another board meeting in—I think—March. There will be further discussion on that.

There is also how local authorities and other stakeholders see that question, and what our key performance indicators are. Work is on-going. We obviously want to get out of the housing emergency as soon as we possibly can, and discussions are on-going about what KPIs we need to have to make sure that we are moving out of the housing emergency.

That kind of approach has been mentioned by not only the Communities Housing Trust, but by Shetland Islands Council and Orkney Islands Council. I discussed it with Ronnie MacRae at the time. As you said, convener, he has now moved on from CHT.

The CHT was going to do a little bit more work on that and come back to us. I am happy to pick up on it. Lauren McNamara will come back on any discussions that have been held. Although there have been discussions, the Communities Housing Trust has not progressed the idea because, as you know, construction costs in rural communities can be up to 30 to 40 per cent more than they are in central Scotland. Work has been done and there is a cost pressures group where the Government can talk about that. You will know that construction inflation was really high 18 months ago, and that has not helped. We looked at the benchmarking and the idea is still under discussion. We can come back to the committee with more details.

The housing investment task force considered what we could do on the flexibility of financing and borrowing limitations through the HRA. We have had discussions with the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and local authorities about what can be done on that within the councils’ current systems.

I mentioned the opportunities regarding different finance models. One of the key stakeholders in the housing investment task force is the hubco programme. The Scottish National Investment Bank is part of the task force as well and is focusing on what it can deliver on housing.

The issue comes back to what we can do to maximise the opportunities for external partners. The Scottish National Investment Bank is looking at models for that, as is the hubco programme. How can we deliver on some of those issues? We are trying to flex the system that we already have, and the housing investment task force is helping us to do that. Work is being done on what we can do on that with local authorities and bodies such as SNIB and the hubcos. The task force will present recommendations at the end of the first quarter, so there will be an chance to see how we can maximise the opportunities.

No, and the reason I say that is because there will be things that do not need legislation—affordability, for example.

What structural change is needed? You and I do not agree on this, but getting long-term sustainable rent controls while also keeping the door open for investment is key. Following conversations with stakeholders and the housing investment taskforce, I believe that we have struck the right balance. A consultation will go out, and there will be talk of the issue at that point, too.

We have spoken about what needs to be done in relation to the private rented sector, and not all of the ideas need legislation. Rent controls and the ability to bring in additional funding are included in the Housing (Scotland) Bill. There will be many things that need policy change and policy sustainment but not legislation. Prevention duties are a massive part of the bill. I do not think that we need legislation for some of the things that we are talking about, but the more that we get into detail with stakeholders, the more we will know.

I think that we have struck the right balance, so I do not think that legislation is needed.

I know Duncan Maclennan very well. It depends on the area. When I came into this role, one of the key issues for me was how we maximise economic development opportunities. The housing investment task force was one of the ways to address that, as it looks at how we get additional funding for such development. We need to be aware of the need to look at the economic development aspect. For example, the freeport presents huge opportunities in delivering housing and jobs. We have already seen a huge amount of investment coming into Scotland, so how do we maximise that? It has always been there.

If we are looking for economic development opportunities, housing needs to be part of the solution. It is very much about the work that Highland Council is doing on how it delivers temporary housing. Another example is the work that Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks is doing on building 1,000 new homes for construction workers, but they will have a legacy beyond that. Economic development is part of the answer. Infrastructure funding is also part of it, and we are also looking at finance. We encourage local authorities to look at maximising housing. Of course it is about providing homes, but it is also about economic development opportunities.

It comes back to the convener’s point about what we need to do and whether we need construction hubs in different parts of Scotland. How do we maximise the opportunities? Good housing and economic investment will bring people into an area.

That is the work that we have focused on. I am looking at how the Government gets investment into different parts of Scotland. Housing plays a major part in that, as the Deputy First Minister has said. We always try to encourage that.

Ms Roddick made a wider point about the sustainability of rural communities. We cannot lose sight of that, and I am very conscious of the part that housing plays in broader economic development and tackling poverty. What housing does to tackle poverty is important, and I always encourage local authorities in that regard. Could we do better across Scotland? Of course we could. There is always room for improvement. We are doing relatively well at the moment, but we need to do more to maximise tackling poverty and other rural issues and to grow the population and the economic development opportunities that create work for local companies, as the convener talked about.

That already goes on. In the Highlands, a key part of the work that we carried out on the freeport, for example, was a convener meeting with the local authority, and we also have housing developers and investors there. Work has already gone on, and it has grown. Work is also being done in the Edinburgh city region.

It is probably about looking at what is going on at the moment, and there might be a need to call for evidence on that. Meghan Gallacher talked about the wider strategic work. How do we maximise the impact on housing? For example, Homes for Scotland has carried out work on delivering housing and £4 billion of gross value added to the economy of Scotland. Work is already being done, so how do we pull that together? We always try to maximise opportunities for housing and its broader impact in Scotland.

Yes, and that is important. The work that is being carried out in Dumfries, which we talked about, is a great example of what you are saying. That is not covered by empty homes, but it is about what local authorities need to do to deliver. Again, sustainable town centre use is important. That is being looked at, but it is down to local authorities.

What is really important is that it is not up to the Government to say that the housing emergency is over. We have to make sure that stakeholders and local authorities agree with that. We have to look at the key performance indicators in terms of what is required to make sure that we come out of the emergency. As I said, we want to come out of it as quickly as we possibly can, but we have to make sure that the progress that we are making is sustainable.

We are also looking at medium and long-term proposals to make sure that we do not go back into a housing emergency. That work is on-going and we are engaging on that with stakeholders as we speak. There will be more work on that in the meeting in March.