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Scottish government proposes £3.3bn five-year affordable housing programme
Housing associations in Scotland have welcomed the government’s proposal to allocate £3.3bn to its next Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
The proposal was announced as part of the Scottish government’s new Infrastructure Investment Plan, which sets out spending plans for areas such as affordable housing and decarbonisation over the next five years.
According to the plan, the Scottish government intends to make a capital investment of £3.3bn on its Affordable Housing Supply Plan (AHSP) from 2021 until 2026.
This is 6% less than the £3.5bn commitment the Scottish government made to fund its AHSP at the start of this current parliamentary term in 2016.
Scottish housing bodies including the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland and Shelter Scotland have been calling on the government to commit to delivering 53,000 affordable homes, including 37,100 for social rent over the next five years.
It has been calculated that this will require an investment of “at least” £3.4bn.
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The SFHA said it welcomes the Scottish government’s £3.3bn proposal, adding that further funding may be made available through the UK government’s budget in March.
It is calling on the UK government to confirm Scotland’s financial transactions funding, which is used to make investments in private entities.
If further support is made available, the SFHA is urging the Scottish government to increase the £3.3bn to ensure social landlords can deliver 53,000 homes.
The announcement follows the Scottish Budget last month, which saw affordable housing spending for 2021/22 cut by 16%.
Also at the Budget, the Scottish government announced that it was scrapping Help to Buy, blaming UK government budget cuts for the decision.
The SFHA is also calling on the Scottish government to carry out a review of grant subsidy levels before May’s Holyrood election.
Rising construction costs and the requirement to meet higher energy efficiency standards have meant such a review is “critical”, the SFHA said.
In addition to affordable housing funding, the new Infrastructure Investment Plan commits £100m to a Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund over the next five years.
Sally Thomas, chief executive at the SFHA, said this funding is “welcome” but is “only a small proportion of the investment needed to bring social housing stock up to the required energy standard”.
“The government’s own research has shown that complying with the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing 2 could cost at least £3.7bn to bring half of Scotland’s social housing stock up to this standard,” she added.
Ms Thomas added that the SFHA is “disappointed” that the government has not increased its homes adaptation budget.
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