About Us

Barony started out in the 1960s as a group of volunteers looking to help people who were homeless or at risk of becoming homeless in Edinburgh. 

The first achievement was to set up a hostel for homeless people, a place that would, “…provide a staging point where people at a crossroads in life may be able to take stock of themselves and society while in a healthy community and decent surroundings”.

 In 1971 Barony became a registered housing association and was then able to build, refurbish and own properties. At this point Barony became a landlord as well as a provider of support services.

Barony's focus at this time was to help people moving from institutional care into their own tenancy within the community.

During the 1970s and 1980s Barony also established its Contact Point services that were designed to help local people play an active role in their community.

Barony also extended geographically during this time, eventually establishing services in Fife, Falkirk, Stirling and West Lothian.

In the 1990s, Barony started to build social housing for rent, particularly in West Lothian.  These houses enabled Barony to offer secure tenancies to anyone in housing need.

During this time, Barony was also selected to provide care and support services to help people move out of long stay hospital care in West Lothian.

Barony as a landlord was also able to use a small percentage of its new houses to assist this hospital resettlement.

By the turn of the century, Barony was providing care and support to help people live at home, whether or not Barony was their landlord.

Barony is committed to continuing to develop and improve its services and embraces the move towards customer led services.