Scotland requires more than short-term ad-hoc measures to address the housing crisis, according to homes sector body – Scottish Business News

SECTOR body Homes for Scotland, which represents organisations delivering the majority of the country’s new homes, has described today’s announcement by the First Minister of a £80 million uplift over the next two years for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) as doing little to alleviate the glaring black hole in the AHSP budget following its recent 26 per cent cut and absolutely nothing to increase the overall supply of homes.

Fionna Kell, Director of Policy at representative body Homes for Scotland, said:

“Whilst we, of course, welcome additional AHSP funding coming forward, the truth is that £80 million split over two years will do little to address the original 26 per cent reduction of nearly £200 million this financial year. 

“With four Local Authorities having declared housing emergencies and recent independent research highlighting that over a quarter of all Scottish households find themselves in some form of housing need, the sector is crying out for long term investment certainty to be prioritised with the appropriate funding, resource and evidence-based regulation needed to address the intensifying housing crisis rather than short-term ad-hoc measures.

“It is in this context that we are calling on the First Minister to carry out a comprehensive and holistic policy review to ensure we have a housing system that supports the delivery of high quality homes across all tenures to support ambitions for a just transition and wellbeing economy.  Action to significantly increase new supply is fundamental to this.”