Youth Homelessness organisation is seeking support with property safety compliance checks across its housing portfolio.

What do they need help with?

Rock Trust requires support to deliver essential property safety compliance checks across its residential portfolio. As a landlord providing housing for young people, the organisation is responsible for maintaining high safety standards and ensuring all required certifications are in place.

The charity conducts a range of regular and statutory checks across its properties, including gas safety, electrical installations (EICR), fire alarms and fire risk assessments, legionella risk assessments, and asbestos surveys. These checks are carried out annually for existing properties as part of ongoing property management responsibilities.

In addition to its current portfolio, Rock Trust is expanding its housing provision. The organisation is in the process of purchasing five new properties in Edinburgh and will also be taking on approximately five additional properties through a partnership with Fife Council. All of these homes will require full safety checks and certification before young people can move in.

Rock Trust is seeking pro bono support to assist with:

• Gas safety certification
• Electrical Installation Condition Reports (EICR)
• Fire alarm testing and fire risk assessments
• Legionella risk assessments
• Asbestos surveys and compliance

Support could be provided as a one-off contribution to help bring new properties into use, or on an ongoing basis to support the charity’s rolling programme of annual checks.

Reducing the cost burden of these essential compliance activities would enable Rock Trust to reinvest more funding directly into frontline services for young people. At the same time, this support will ensure that all properties meet the required safety standards, providing secure and stable homes for those at risk of homelessness.

Timeline

Support is ideally required by August 2026.

About the organisation

Rock Trust is Scotland’s leading youth homelessness charity, working to ensure that no young person is without a safe place to call home. The organisation supports young people aged 16–25 to avoid, resolve and move on from homelessness, helping them build the skills, confidence and stability needed for adulthood.

In 2023–24, Rock Trust supported 1,129 young people across eight local authority areas. Their services include housing support, counselling, employability programmes and access to safe accommodation through initiatives such as Youth Housing Hubs and Housing First for Youth.

Youth homelessness remains a critical issue in Scotland, with around 7,500 young people presenting as homeless each year—around 25% of all applications. Many more remain hidden, living in unsafe or unstable conditions. Rock Trust works at both a service delivery and national policy level, influencing systems and standards to create long-term change and ensure no young person is left behind.

http://www.rocktrust.org