You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Scottish government pumps additional £200m into affordable housing next year
An additional £200m has been allocated to the Scottish government’s interim Affordable Housing Supply Programme in 2021/22, the Scottish communities secretary has announced.
This will be in addition to the £300m for 2021/22 announced by the Scottish government in February, bringing the total investment for next year to £500m.
Scottish communities secretary Aileen Campbell said the additional funding will provide certainty to local authorities, housing associations and the construction sector ahead of the Scottish Budget in January next year.
The announcement comes in the lead up to the Holyrood elections in May 2021, in which the current Scottish National Party (SNP) government will be seeking re-election.
READ MORE
Under this current parliamentary term, the Scottish government has invested £3.5bn in affordable housing and set a target of delivering 50,000 affordable homes.
At the start of the pandemic, Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart admitted the government was unlikely to meet this target due to the impact of coronavirus on construction in Scotland.
The Scottish government recently published its Draft Infrastructure Investment Plan which promises £2.8bn in capital funding for affordable housing over the next parliamentary term, a 16% increase on capital funding during this parliament, with more funding to come through financial transactions and the transfer of management of development funding budgets.
On the announcement of more funding for 2021/22, Ms Campbell said: “COVID-19 has underlined the value of home as a safe place to live.
“This announcement shows our dedication to continue delivering affordable, warm, secure homes for the people of Scotland and to build on our achievement of delivering nearly 96,000 affordable homes since 2007.
“By significantly increasing the funding able to be committed now, we are building on our record £3.5bn commitment over this parliament and our plans for further capital investment laid out recently in our draft Infrastructure Investment Plan.
“This will help the economy and the construction sector to recover from the pandemic while ensuring we maintain momentum in the delivery of social and affordable homes to those who need them.”
