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Scottish housing minister blames cuts as housing association starts and completions drop off significantly
In the social housing sector in Scotland, completions fell by nearly a third, to 5,043, and starts by 15%, to 3,500, in the 2023-24 financial year.
This drop-off, according to the latest government data in Scotland, meant completions were the lowest since 2020-21, and starts the lowest since 2012-13.
Scottish housing minister Paul McLennan blamed the UK government’s cuts to certain budgets.
In the private sector, completions were down 13%, to 14,589, and starts were down 16%, to 12,904.
New build completions were the second lowest since 2017-18 and starts were at the lowest point since 2014-15 and lower than when the pandemic affected housebuilding.
On Scotland’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP), there were 6,981 approvals, 6,755 starts and 9,514 completions of affordable homes. This includes affordable homes for social rent, affordable rent and affordable homeownership.
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Approvals were up 9%, although starts and completions fell 3% and 9%, respectively.
These latest statistics are used to inform progress against the Scottish government’s target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be for social rent and 10% will be in rural and island communities.
So far, 21,092 affordable homes have been completed towards the target. These completions consist of 15,964 (76%) homes for social rent, 2,904 (14%) for affordable rent and 2,224 (11%) for affordable homeownership.
Mr McLennan responded to the latest figures by pointing out that Scotland had delivered more than 131,000 affordable homes, with more than 93,000 of those being for social rent since 2007.
He added: “We will continue to build on that record, with almost £600m of investment in the AHSP in 2024-25.
“I recently outlined the Scottish government’s plan to tackle the housing emergency with three key pillars forming part of our approach: more high-quality, permanent homes; the right homes in the right places; and a permanent home for everyone.
“While we remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, our capital block grant is being reduced by nearly 10%, a loss of more than £1.3bn by 2027-28. Likewise, our financial transactions budget – key to delivering affordable housing – has been cut by 62%.”
Despite Mr McLennan blaming cuts to government budgets, Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), said the “dire statistics should serve as yet another wake-up call to the Scottish government about the extent of the housing emergency and the immediate challenges we face in delivering affordable rented housing.
“Starts and completions of new homes are down in every sector and it’s clear we are seeing a collapse in housebuilding.
“Our housing associations are key to delivering the warm, high-quality, affordable homes which will end the housing emergency, but successive Scottish government cuts are threatening their ability to deliver.
“With nearly 10,000 children living in temporary accommodation and almost 250,000 people on a waiting list for a social home, we cannot afford such a slowdown in housebuilding.”
Ms Thomas called on the Scottish government to change course and follow the housing emergency action plan set out by SFHA and its partners, or “risk letting down everyone who is in desperate need of a warm, high-quality, affordable home”.
Inside Housing has rounded up the rest of the key talking points from the SFHA annual conference in Glasgow earlier this month, here.
