Scottish Government announces extra £80m for affordable housing over next two years

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Scottish Government has announced an extra £80 million for affordable housing over the next two years.The funding was announced by Humza Yousaf on a visit to Hillcrest Housing Association’s Derby Street development in Dundee.The First Minister said the money is part of an effort to boost affordable housing supply by acquiring properties and should help reduce homelessness.

The Scottish Government slashed the housing budget in December by nearly £200 million. Five Scottish councils have declared a housing emergency.

The money available for building more homes went down from £564.6m in 2023-24 to £375.8m in 2024-25.Yousaf said the extra funding will increase the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget to nearly £600 million in 2024-2025.He also said it should help reduce the time spent in temporary accommodation, including by children.Yousaf said: “Housing is essential in our efforts to tackle child poverty and reduce inequality across Scotland, and it supports jobs and growth in the economy.

Providing good quality, affordable housing is at the very core of what my Government is doing to make Scotland a better place.“While there is a single person homeless in our country, it is simply not acceptable to have houses sitting empty – so I am determined that we remove the barriers, and provide the money that will enable councils to buy properties so they can become affordable homes again.“This £80 million will build on the success of our National Acquisition Programme which I announced last year, which spent more than £60 million and delivered more than 1,000 affordable homes."This is one of a number of actions we are prioritising to help to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation.