They weren’t politicians or planners. They didn’t have funding or formal power. But what they did have was grit, community spirit, and a refusal to accept the crumbling conditions they and their families were expected to live in.

A new report by Professor Kim McKee of the University of Stirling is finally shining a light on the untold story of the women who sparked a grassroots housing revolution in 1970s and 80s Scotland. Often dismissed or forgotten in official histories, these women were the driving force behind the creation of community-based housing associations (CBHAs) – organisations that gave working-class residents control over their homes, their streets, and their futures.

Drawing on powerful first-hand accounts from thirteen women now aged over 65, the research reveals how these local heroes took on absentee landlords, challenged ineffective council systems, and transformed entire neighbourhoods from the ground up.