An affordable housing charity in Scotland is winding down its activities and may shut due to financial problems.
Inverness-based Communities Housing Trust (CHT), OSCR-registered in 1998, announced this week that it could no longer sustain operations in a challenging environment.
The charity, formerly the Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust, said in a statement it faced the “very real” prospect of closure.
Blair Allan, CHT chair, said that the trust has been using its reserves to support housing delivery, but had struggled to develop a sustainable business model.
CHT also told the BBC that the charity faced higher transport and construction costs and that a three-year funding arrangement with the Scottish government and Nationwide Foundation ended in June.
“The trustees have had no choice but to take a decision to begin a managed withdrawal from all activities and to work to minimise the impact on all stakeholders,” Allan said.
Allan thanked charity partners the Scottish government, Nationwide Foundation and the Highland Council and most recently Argyll and Bute, Moray and Perth and Kinross councils.
This comes after a 2024 strategic review which recognised “weaknesses in the trust’s financial model”, including “internal operational issues,” according to its accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025.
The charity owed £2.78m in loans and overdrafts in 2025, the accounts read, of which £1.76m was payable within one year.
CHT’s reserves in 2025 were £4.73m, the accounts read, while it recorded a deficit of £158,000 in 2025 compared to a surplus of £804,000 in 2024.
It had 12 staff members as of 31 March 2025, the majority of whom worked full time.
Loss for community from mooted closure
CHT said it has delivered about 500 affordable homes in hundreds of Scotland’s fragile rural and island communities, and its loss would have significant repercussions.
The charity said: “The impact of the potential loss of Communities Housing Trust may extend far beyond the organisation itself as it would represent the loss of decades of specialist knowledge.
“Without dedicated support, many rural and island communities will struggle to develop affordable homes, threatening the sustainability of local schools, healthcare services, businesses and community life.”
