Elections May 2026: what are the key housing pledges in Scotland?

The SNP plans to update design guidance for accessible homes and reform tenement homes legislation. It has pledged to end the use of unsafe and harmful temporary accommodation for children, although there is no detail given on how it would do this.

The SNP has also confirmed that it will take forward the delayed Heat in Buildings Bill after publishing draft plans last year.

It has pledged to set up a £100m fund to help first-time buyers with their mortgage deposit and give tenants the right of ‘first refusal’ to buy their home if their landlords decide to sell up.

Reform

Reform may have just one MSP, Graeme Simpson, the Conservatives’ former housing spokesperson who defected last year. However, the new party has seen rising support in Scotland and is battling Labour to become the official opposition.

In its manifesto, the party backs a more ambitious housing target than its main opponents. It claims that building 75,000 affordable homes by 2031, an amount called for by Shelter and by social housing trade bodies, is achievable. It does not say how much public money it would spend on this, or include a target for social rent.

Reform, like the SNP, would target pension funds to pay for housing. Its manifesto says the party plans to develop a long-term model with UK pension funds to build social homes owned by councils.

Unlike most of the other parties, social housing allocations are a focus for Reform.

The party would bring back a local connection test, abolished by the SNP in 2022, which would apply to people experiencing homelessness who are going to councils for support. It has also pledged to end Glasgow’s status as a dispersal city for asylum seekers.

In its argument for the move, the party claims, without evidence, that Scottish councils are being forced to prioritise social housing for asylum seekers over locals.

The party would also bring in a “progressive” rent-to-buy model aimed at young people, first-time buyers and “working families”. 

It would also phase out Scotland’s equivalent of stamp duty, the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), over the next decade. Reform says the policy is making housing less affordable and disadvantaging people who want to move. It would replace both LBTT and non-domestic business rates with an annual property tax and give revenues from this to councils.

Reform would allow councils to use compulsory purchase powers to buy empty homes and build affordable housing on town centre brownfield sites. It has pledged to review planning laws so people can influence development at street level, and repeal all regulations on the private rented sector for new tenancies.

Finally, it would seek to limit government intervention in the sector, including halting new building regulations, axing net zero targets and proposing to scrap a ban on new homes with oil boilers.

Labour

Labour has gone from leading in the polls two years ago to fighting Reform for second place, after its national popularity plummeted.

The party, like Reform, has set out a more ambitious affordable housebuilding target than the SNP. It would spend £5.3bn to fund 52,300 homes as part of a target of 125,000 new builds by 2031. While the targets include 20,300 mid-market rent homes, Labour does not indicate how many would be for social rent.

The party also has a different vision to its rivals for how to achieve a boost in supply. It would create housing development trusts to oversee building in each region, with powers to use local assets to bring in finance and create construction companies.

Labour also wants to create a housing bank within the public Scottish National Investment Bank, which could direct investment to housing, including through low-cost loans.

It also has a suite of pledges aimed at increasing homes in rural areas hit by depopulation. Labour has vowed to bring rural housing funds together, review how rural housing is classified so 10% of all new homes are in “genuinely rural” areas, and fast-track schemes for people working in these regions.

As in Westminster, the party backs major changes to the planning system aimed at spurring housebuilding. It would tilt the policy balance back in favour of development, search for ‘grey belt’ housing sites and bring in local housebuilding targets. Going further than the UK government, the party wants to see housing treated as critical national infrastructure.

On homelessness, the party would put £30m towards prevention schemes, create a government unit to oversee this and use more modular homes as a better alternative to temporary accommodation.

Labour also aims to boost homeownership. Policies here include reserving 5,000 mid-market rent homes for people wanting to save for a deposit, increasing LBTT relief and creating a ‘£1 home’ scheme to return derelict properties to use.

The party’s manifesto pledges to speed up cladding remediation. It would set targets and legal requirements for fixing unsafe cladding and bring forward a ‘Responsible Developers’ scheme.

Conservatives

Fresh from a stint as the official opposition, the Scottish Conservatives are facing heavy losses and are predicted to rank fourth place or lower following the elections.

The party has not set out any housing targets in its manifesto or indicated how much it would spend on affordable supply. Instead, it focuses on measures it says would make homes cheaper to build and free up government funding for housebuilding.

The party wants to localise planning, vowing to scrap the national framework, let councils set their own strategies and even allow some developments to be decided on a street-by-street basis. Alongside this, it would bring in a fund to build on brownfield sites.

Like Reform, it would halt all new housebuilding regulations and scrap some net zero-related targets, including Passivhaus standards and the boiler ban. The Conservatives would go further and remove subsidies for heat pumps, using the extra cash on homes and infrastructure instead.

It would also remove the ability of councils to bring in rent controls in their areas, which was brought in by the SNP last year. And in line with the national party’s stance on stamp duty, the Scottish party would scrap LBTT.

Another similarity with Reform is the party’s plan to bring back the local connection test, with the party also claiming without evidence that removing this has made it harder for locals to get housing. The Conservatives would also bring back the priority need test scrapped by the SNP in 2012.

On homelessness, the party supports rolling out the ‘ask and act’ scheme brought into law by the Scottish government last year, although it would assess the results of a pilot before scaling this up more widely.

It also backs more funding for organisations that support people in debt and improving how government agencies work together to make people who are struggling aware of financial support.

Greens

Forecasts suggest the Greens are unlikely to see power outside of another coalition agreement, but the party could pip the Conservatives to fourth place.

The party has the most ambitious housing target of the group, pledging to build at least 15,700 more social homes per year in the next five years. Like Reform, its manifesto does not say how much this would cost.

On social housing, the Greens support giving registered social landlords (RSLs) first right of refusal on homes sold under the Right to Buy.

The party would consult on requiring social landlords to rent a proportion of homes to people experiencing homelessness. It would also give funding to RSLs and councils to house asylum seekers, ending the use of barracks and hotels.

Alongside this, the party would focus on improving housing quality. The Greens pledge to introduce net zero and accessibility standards for all new homes, give councils the power to turn down developers with poor track records, and urgently fund better temporary accommodation.

The party also aims to reform the rental system. Policies here include bringing in rent controls for student accommodation, mid-market and built-to-rent homes; changes to evictions, including increasing the notice period by four months; and strengthening the role of tenants and councils in governing social landlords.

On homelessness, the party would provide long-term funding for rapid rehousing transition plans and Housing First. It would also give extra cash support for organisations that need to discharge homelessness prevention duties, although it does not say how much it would spend on any of these pledges.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are the second-smallest party in Holyrood and are likely to come last out of the six main parties, but may make some gains.

The party’s housing target is 125,000 homes over the next five years, including 10,000 homes earmarked for key workers and set at mid-market rents. It would also roll out a programme of “net zero new towns” prioritising district heating, biodiversity and “20-minute neighbourhoods”.

Other pledges include setting out a timescale and milestones to remove Grenfell-style cladding from all Scottish buildings, bringing in more support for children and young people experiencing homelessness, and rolling out a co-housing model that would help meet the needs of older people.

Read the housing pledges for the local elections in Wales