The Beginning

During the 1960s The Royal British Legion in England recognised the need to provide sheltered housing for elderly ex-Servicemen and women. To achieve this they established the Royal British
Legion Housing Association which soon grew rapidly and experienced considerable success. Around 1973, TRBL approached the Royal British Legion in Scotland with the suggestion that they should form a similar Housing Association for Scottish veterans. However, the RBLS, a much smaller organisation, felt that such a task was beyond its scope and so in 1975 TRBL was invited to operate a housing association in Scotland and a small area office was opened in Edinburgh.

TRBLHA continued to focus its attention on providing sheltered housing for ex-Service veterans in the form of 'Courts' which consisted of custom-built flats and cottages with communal lounges and laundries. They also included at least one resident Warden and an internal alarm call system which linked all flats to the Warden's house. The first 'Court' was Douglas Haig Court in Hawick which consisted of 36 flats and was opened in 1977.

 

The Early Years

The opening of the first Court in Hawick was soon followed by Stuart Court in Edinburgh and then Dewar Court in Perth, with developments in Glasgow, the Central Belt and the Highlands not far behind. The active support of local RBLS members in creating 'Local Court Committees' was soon established and they were encouraged to undertake many of the local day-to-day management functions. This fostered a strong sense of identity, as the tenants continued to be selected on an ex-Service basis only.

The early 80s saw spectacular growth and, at the same time, a growing recognition for more professional management at every level. This, coupled with newly enforced requirements from the Housing Corporation for an 'open' selection of tenants, began to lessen the Legion's influence.

By 1987, it was clear that the creation of a new Government Agency, 'Communities Scotland', would have a crucial effect on the continuing operation of TRBLHA in Scotland. Faced with the knowledge that Communities Scotland development funding would only be provided to independent Scottish based Associations, TRBLHA made the very bold and generous decision to transfer its Scottish operation to independent control. The Royal British Legion Scotland Housing Association became fully independent on 1st April 1990.

 

Independence

Having achieved its independent status from TRBLHA the new Committee of Management now became the decision makers and found themselves in control of 916 sheltered housing units with £300,000 in reserves and provisions.

The Committee quickly decided to undertake a review of the TRBLSHA and it became evident that there was still a wide-spread misconception
by the public - and indeed many people within Scottish Homes (now known as Communities Scotland) and local authorities -that the organisation still only housed elderly
ex-Servicemen and women.

Following a number of months of serious consideration it was decided to change the name of the Association, to introduce a local management office strategy and to widen the Association's client group to include other forms of housing tenure.

In June 1992 the TRBLSHA changed its name to
'Cairn Housing Association Limited'.

 

Expansion

Whether as a result of the name change or not, Cairn HA quickly achieved diversification into its first non-sheltered housing scheme in Inverness funded by Scottish Homes in 1992. Later in the year the Association was asked to assist a small specialist housing association, resulting in Cairn HA assuming responsibility for its tenants and properties.

At the same time, the Association registered an interest in becoming the landlord of 850 Scottish Homes' properties in Inverness and Caithness which were due for stock transfer. In late 1995, the Association learned that it had been successful
in its stock transfer bid and this expansion led to an office in Thurso.

Having successfully completed the stock transfer, and implemented the first phase of a ten-year improvement plan for the properties, the Association moved its strategic thinking to the Government's New Housing Partnership Initiative.
It spent almost a year planning and preparing for the new Government's ideas on housing and this was rewarded with successful bids in North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire and Highland Council areas.

The quality and value for money being offered by the Association and its development partners was recognised by Scottish Homes and resulted in a contract for almost 500 new rented properties, the first of which became available for letting in 1999 with the whole contract to be completed by 2001.