Dispatches from Scotland

But during his speech, Mr Swinney, who twice thanked those in the room for their work, claimed housing was “central” to his administration’s four priorities for Scotland.

The first minister also highlighted the importance of long-term funding to the sector, and confirmed that a framework for the next multi-year Spending Review will be published later this month.

He said: “We are keenly aware of the benefits of providing multi-year spending plans to our partners, and want to prove this stability across the public sector.

“We continue to call on the UK government to provide multi-year funding for housing, to give developers and third-sector organisations long-term certainty.”

Multi-year settlements could soon be all the rage. On Wednesday, the UK government announced a 10-year investment of £39bn in the Affordable Homes Programme, sparking the SFHA’s call for Holyrood to invest the extra money in housing and bring in multi-year funding for housing associations.

Sally Thomas, chief executive of the SFHA, said the Spending Review “enables the Scottish government to back the country’s housing associations on a long-term basis”.

She added: “It’s time to end the uncertainty of budgets which change from one year to the next and empower our housing associations to build.”

On the same day, a new role of housing secretary was created, as the devolved administration stepped up its efforts to tackle the housing crisis.

Màiri McAllan took on a new role as cabinet secretary for housing in the Scottish government after housing minister Paul McLennan stood down – highlighting the sector’s prominent role in Mr Swinney’s administration.

The first minister said: “Màiri McAllan has been tasked with tackling the housing emergency, including ensuring we have energy-efficient homes to help bring down bills and tackle the climate emergency.

“These are two of the biggest challenges facing people across the country, and I want them to know they have a government firmly on their side and focused on delivering real change.”

The annual conference heard why clarity is needed on what damp and mould is “reportable”, as data on new indicators is collected.

Graeme Reid, managing director of JMP surveyors, put the question to Nicola Harcus, assistant director of regulation at the Scottish Housing Regulator, at a breakout session this week.

Mr Reid, whose company carries out a “significant number” of stock condition surveys across the country, said they were now seeing damp and mould questions being requested as an add-on to the surveys.

“If my surveyors recorded every single presence of any evidence of any damp, mould or [condensation] in the properties they looked at... it’s significant,” he said.

Ms Harcus answered: “What we’re trying to do is just establish a base. That first year will be quite interesting, to see what that base looks like, because we don’t know at the moment. It’s not something we’re going to be wanting to pull landlords up about.”

There was also a presentation by Tenants Together. The national group of tenants did a survey of the housing professionals in the room about the challenges tenants face and the reasons why there may be a lack of interest in tenant participation.

A panel of former senior housing leaders looked back on 50 years of the sector, and another group of experts were quizzed by Kirsty Wark, the former presenter of the BBC’s Newsnight programme.

Change was on the agenda, as Ms Thomas made her last annual conference speech. It ranged from a comprehensive overview of the SFHA’s three strategic priorities, a look at housing’s potential role in the 2026 Scottish elections, to a brief overview of the federation’s 50th anniversary and the lessons she’s learned in her time at its helm.

Before the conference, the SFHA, the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland and charity Shelter Scotland commissioned research about the country’s affordable housing need over the length of the next parliamentary term, from 2026 to 2031.

Ms Thomas said there was a question about the sector’s future in a housing system that was “not working” and which “favours some people and not others – with the gap between those who win and those who lose growing”.

But she struck a note of cautious optimism, adding: “While, in many ways, closing this gap has rarely felt further away, we have the building blocks to succeed.

“Beyond all the policy objectives, the tools and levers, the housing crisis we find ourselves in is a crisis of lost hopes and dreams. With a housing system which recognises housing as a service, not a commodity, as national infrastructure, not a market, we can start to rebuild those hopes and dreams for everyone.”