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Edinburgh and Glasgow councils get lion’s share of £40m empty homes acquisition fund
Edinburgh and Glasgow councils have been given the biggest share of the Scottish government’s long-promised £40m housing acquisition fund.
City of Edinburgh Council has been allocated £14.9m from the budget, while Glasgow City Council has received £11.5m.
Far behind in third place was West Lothian, which was allocated £2m, followed by Fife with £1.8m, and South Lanarkshire with £1.7m.
The money is part of £80m set aside over this year and next for councils to buy empty homes to turn into social housing or to bring long term voids back into use.
News of the successful recipients came after Inside Housing revealed earlier this month that councils were still waiting for the cash, over four months after it had been announced by then-first minister Humza Yousaf.
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The Scottish government said the funding was mostly distributed to these councils due to their “sustained temporary accommodation pressures”.
According to an Inside Housing investigation, Edinburgh Council spent £49m on temporary accommodation in 2022-23, while Glasgow spent £36.6m and South Lanarkshire spent £12.2m.
The remaining 27 local authorities all received a share of the remaining funding of less than £1m. A further £40m will be allocated to councils next year, the Scottish government said.
The extra acquisition money was welcomed by Scottish housing providers when it was announced in April, although the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations pointed out that it “will not build a single new social home”.
Funds have been given to councils to buy empty and private sector homes since 2023, when £60m was set aside out of underspend from the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to deliver 1,000 affordable homes.
Meanwhile, this year’s funding to provide housing aids and adaptations for disabled residents also remains unallocated to social landlords. The funding is normally assigned to providers by the summer.
Scottish housing minister Paul McLennan said: “The delivery of affordable homes is the foundation of family life and is fundamental to how we achieve our priorities of eradicating child poverty and growing the economy.
“The key to tackling homelessness and reducing the time spent by families in temporary accommodation is to deliver more affordable homes.
“We have already supported councils to purchase almost 1,500 properties in 2023-24 for use as affordable homes. However, we must do more and, by committing £40m this year, we are accelerating that work.
“This money will help councils provide a warm, safe place that families can call home again.”
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