Housing needs transformative change

The Cabinet Secretary for Housing writes for Holyrood

When we declared a housing emergency, we did not do so lightly. We did so determined to overcome the challenge before us and deliver for Scotland.

A major part of this is delivering more homes, more quickly. We will invest a record-breaking sum of up to £4.9bn over the next four years, of which £4.1bn will be public investment. This will support the delivery of 36,000 affordable homes and is estimated to provide family homes for up to 24,000 children. This is the largest investment since devolution and it reflects something we all know – a safe, warm and affordable home underpins every aspect of people's lives – their health, their wellbeing and their economic security. 

It also builds on a track record that we are proud of. Since 2007, the Scottish Government has helped to deliver over 141,000 affordable homes across the country. This includes 101,000 for social rent and over 12,000 affordable homes in rural and island Scotland in the last 10 years. These are not just statistics – they are families making their lives with housing security, older people living independently with dignity or young people who can afford to put down roots in the communities where they grew up. 

This progress has been hard-won but it leaves Scotland with significantly more affordable homes per head of population than elsewhere in the UK. Some 69 per cent more than Wales and 45 per cent more than England. It also demonstrates what can be achieved when government, local authorities, housing associations and the private sector work together. 

However, we will always challenge ourselves to do more and responding to increased need has exposed the limitations of the current model. We believe that what’s needed is not incremental adjustments but transformational change. 

The new national housing agency, More Homes Scotland, represents a fundamental shift in our approach. It will help to drive forward the core priorities of this government, particularly our core ambition to end child poverty by bringing together housing, land, planning support and delivery expertise to bring firepower to the delivery of homes. The agency will ensure simplicity, scale and speed in the delivery of the homes Scotland needs. 

As this government continues standing up for Scotland, we are also focused on providing hope for the future. As housing secretary, I know that many hope to one day own their own home.

However, with increased cost of living pressures and a stalling UK economy, saving for a deposit has become too difficult for too many. That’s why the first minister announced our First Home Fund to support first-time buyers with up to £10,000 towards a deposit to purchase a home, subject to the outcome of May’s election. The scheme will support 10,000 first-time buyers every year and will help make the hope of home ownership a reality for our young people. 

The challenges we face took decades to accumulate beginning, arguably, under the Right to Buy Scheme (which we abolished in 2016). However, between our record budget, the greatest multi-annual funding certainty ever provided and a new housing delivery agency, we are laying the ground work for sustained progress. And that is not to mention the other changes delivered in the last year including a national Fund to Leave, helping women avoid homelessness when leaving an abusive partner; the passage of Awaab’s Law protecting tenants from damp and mould; the passage of gold standard anti-homelessness laws in ‘Ask and Act’ and a record £115m investment in Discretionary Housing Payments to fully mitigate the UK Government’s bedroom tax and, confirmed this week, up to £9m to mitigate the UK Government’s Local Housing Allowance freeze for households with children.

This government believes the opportunity of a secure, warm and affordable home is something to which we are all entitled. On a challenging backdrop, shared by countries across the UK and beyond, we are taking the transformative action needed to deliver this for Scotland.