Next month fieldwork will go live on a new survey of businesses based in Skye and Lochalsh, seeking to find out to what extent a lack of affordable accommodation is making it difficult to recruit staff and to obtain the business community’s views on possible solutions to the problem.

This important new study, which has been commissioned jointly by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Lochalsh & Skye Housing Association, SkyeConnect Tourist Destination Management Organisation and The Highland Council, follows on from similar studies undertaken by 56 Degree Insight during 2021 in Badenoch & Strathspey and Lochaber. These previous studies provided valuable evidence on the impacts of a lack of affordable housing in these areas including estimates of the proportion of businesses facing recruitment challenges because staff cannot find accommodation, the numbers of positions impacted and details on the types of accommodation most needed to address these problems.

The survey of businesses in Skye and Lochalsh will aim to gather similar evidence on the extent that a lack of housing is impacting upon recruitment and go further by asking participants to have their say on the best possible solutions - giving their own opinions on the actions that should be taken and their reactions to a range of potential solutions.

While the core of the study will be an online survey of businesses, due to take place during February, a follow up series of one to one interviews will be undertaken with a selection of organisations to obtain more in depth feedback on the issues faced and the actions which need to be taken to resolve them. This stage will provide us with the opportunity to engage in more detail with some of the larger employers in the area and potentially other stakeholders including land owners.

We look forward to launching the new survey soon. If you would like to find out more about the research or if you are a business based in Skye and Lochalsh and would like to take part in the research please get in touch!