Scottish government urged to reverse ‘disastrous’ housing budget cut

The Scottish government usually aims to pass the budget by the end of February each year. A YouGov poll of 1,058 people commissioned by the SFHA found that 80% of Scots said the country was in a housing crisis and that housing was the third most important issue facing the country.

In addition, nearly eight in 10 respondents said there was not currently enough affordable housing.

Last week Shirley-Anne Somerville, cabinet secretary for communities, social security and equalities, confirmed that the Scottish government’s target to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 was “at risk”.

Meanwhile, three Scottish councils have declared a housing emergency, including City of Edinburgh Council and Glasgow City Council.

The cut to affordable housing was also criticised in a report published in January by the Scottish parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee. 

The report said that witnesses had expressed “significant concerns” regarding the cut, and wanted “further information on the impact of this decision on its target to build 110,000 homes by 2032”.

Announcing the budget last year, the Scottish government said the cuts were necessary because the UK government did not “inflation-proof” its capital budget, resulting in a real-terms cut in capital funding to Scotland.

However, critics have pointed out that Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf’s decision to freeze council tax in October has impacted local government finances and homelessness services.

Sally Thomas, chief executive of the SFHA, said: “When nearly 10,000 children are growing up in temporary accommodation, nearly a quarter of a million people are on a waiting list for a social home, and eight out of 10 people believe there’s a housing crisis, it is simply a baffling decision to slash its affordable housing budget.”

She continued: “I would again urge Scottish government to reverse this disastrous cut and redouble its efforts to deliver the homes we need.”

Scotland’s housing minister, Paul McLennan, said: “The Scottish government has led the UK in housing by delivering more than 126,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 89,000 of which were for social rent, including almost 24,000 council homes. We will invest £556m in affordable housing in 2024-25, the majority of which will be for social rent.

“The UK government failed to inflation-proof their capital budget, and this has resulted in nearly a 10% real-terms cut in our UK capital funding between 2023-24 and 2027-28. This is on top of the disastrous impact Brexit has had on construction supply chain issues, labour shortages and the inflationary pressures driven by UK government financial mismanagement.”

“We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and to support that we will bring forward the review scheduled for 2026-27 to 2024, which will concentrate on deliverability. We are working with the financial community in Scotland, and elsewhere, to boost private sector investment and help deliver more homes.”