David Petrie

First joining HFS in 2017 as Executive Team Assistant, providing support across the Communications and Policy Team, David moved onto the role of Policy Officer in December 2019 where he worked on a number of policy workstreams including Help to Buy, the First Home Fund, SME home builders and accessible housing delivery. In 2021 he joined Age Scotland to lead on its housing and energy policy portfolios before returning to HFS in August 2023 as its External Affairs Manager.

David’s key responsibilities include:

• Representing HFS and the sector at key public forums and events
• Project managing new public campaigns and other key workstreams in line with the HFS Strategy
• Monitoring political and stakeholder activity across Holyrood and Westminster
• Developing key political and stakeholder communications and relationships
• Improving HFS research and data collection
• Providing ad hoc communication and research support to the Policy Team

David holds an MA (Hons) in History and Politics from the University of Aberdeen, and a professional qualification from London School of Economics in Real Estate Finance and Economics.

“Having studied politics at university, I have always had a keen interest in public policy; for me housing sits at the centre of all public policy decisions and development, increasing the delivery and quality of homes across all tenures is one of the key building blocks to address the challenges our country faces across health, education, economic and wellbeing outcomes. Having first started my housing career with HFS in 2017, I am now delighted to return once again to help our members deliver more homes across Scotland.”

“Moving to Edinburgh in 2017, I first lived in a flat with family before moving into private rented accommodation for four years with my partner. Whilst our experience of renting was mostly positive, like most young couples we struggled to balance saving for a deposit and pay private rental prices in Edinburgh City at the same time, whilst other tenures such as social rent or mid-market rent were likely to be out of reach to us.  

In 2022, we decided to move in with my partner’s mother to make one final push at saving up for a deposit on a home we could buy together. As we continued to save, and property prices not alleviating, we turned our focus to new build homes in Edinburgh to avoid the overly competitive bidding processes on second hand properties. In August 2022, we reserved our new build flat in Portobello, and by October we had the keys to our first home. The process could not have been made any easier by the home builder, guiding us through the reservation and handover process, as well as providing additional support when the mortgage market contracted sharply towards the end of 2022. Our new home is perfect for our needs, the location is perfect for commuting into the city centre, it is cheap to run and we have managed to stay close to my partner’s family. It will be some time before we consider moving again.”