When Dr Johnson and James Boswell visited the small island of Ulva in October 1773, they found little of interest and only stayed one night.

There are few entries about the island in the journals of their celebrated journey to the Hebrides. However, one related to their host, the Macquarry chief, whose ancient clan still practised the payment of "mercheta mulierum" whereby he received a sheep at the marriage of a virgin. Another revealed that the clay floor of Macquarry's house was wet because of broken windows, so one could go to bed with wet feet.

Sheep for virgins has long since ceased. But, 239 years on, housing is the biggest single issue facing Ulva, the neighbouring island of Gometra, and the communities of Ulva Ferry and Torloisk on Mull, as identified by the local people themselves.

They live amid stunning scenery but, as so often in the Highlands and Islands, the price they pay for such physical beauty is a lack of affordable family housing.

Few can pay the £600-£800 a month that can be sought by private landlords, but, unlike other areas, there are no crofts to offer security of tenure, or new house sites.

At present there is only one property that constitutes affordable housing in the Ulva Ferry area.

Of 100 households, 22 are rented and 78 are in private ownership. Of those in private ownership, 30 are holiday homes, 19 of which are let commercially. But there are three derelict houses that could be demolished or refurbished to a habitable standard.

The figures come from a draft community development plan just finished for the Ulva School Community Association (USCA), by the community's two part-time development officers who job-share. Cally Fleming, also executive director of the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust, and Alasdair Satchel, a freelance film and theatre director, actor and writer, share the 18-month post that ends in December 2013.

USCA was formed to involve local people in and around Ulva Primary School, which is actually on Mull at Ulva Ferry, in developing plans for the revitalisation of the area.

It had grown out of the successful fight to save the school from Argyll and Bute Council's closure plans. The experience galvanised the local communities to carve out a better future for their neck of the Hebridean woods, where they are almost half an hour's drive from the nearest bus stop or doctor.

Rebecca Munro, 25, moved to Mull from Dumfries in May 2005 to live with her then boyfriend, now her husband, Rhuri Munro. He is a native of Ulva, the son of the local ferryman who himself now commutes from Drervaig 25 minutes away. They have a two-year-old daughter, Matilda – the only child on Ulva younger than 15.

"Rhuri had grown up on Ulva, but was still commuting 45 minutes each way from Tobermory to Ulva Ferry for work as a fisherman when I came up first," Mrs Munro explains. "So when the opportunity of me taking over and running the Boathouse Restaurant on Ulva came up, we jumped at it. ."

Mrs Munro estimates there are 5000 visitors a year to Ulva, which makes her business profitable. But she and other local people are desperately trying to grow the community:

"Only two of the 12 or so fisherman on creels boats working out of Ulva live in the area. Only two of the 10 fish farm employees are able to live here, and they and their families are living in company houses. The other eight travel in from other areas of Mull. All the operators of boat tours travel in, as does the teacher at the primary school. We are like a commuter town in reverse."

She is the new convener of USCA, which is drawing up a strategy. There is hope a proposed new fish farm off Gometra will not only provide four jobs but also houses.

They are needed. USCA conducted a housing needs survey that established there are four families with eight children, two couples and two single people currently resident in the UCSA area who are seeking affordable housing. However, there are six more households working locally but living elsewhere and eight families with 12 more children living elsewhere on Mull who would like to move to the area; as would one family with three children living and working outside Mull and another single person who regularly works in the USCA area but lives on the mainland.

Mrs Munro said that, despite the apparent magnitude of the challenge, there is hope. USCA is to become a charity, which will allow them to accept land offered by a local farmer, where they can build housing, and there are plans to build more homes in a joint venture with Torloisk estate.

Cally Fleming and Alasdair Satchel's draft development plan recognises the need for affordable housing is not just for young families, whose children would attend Ulva Primary School, but also single people and couples, starting off life together, and older people who have maybe had a larger house, but want to downsize.

A housing list has been created and USCA is developing a housing allocation policy in line with those in use by local housing associations.

Ideally, Mrs Munro says housing should allow a progression through different phases of family life. "This would encourage families to stay in the area and encourage long-erm social cohesion."