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Scottish partnership launched to argue for housing investment post-2021
Three Scottish housing bodies have partnered to argue the case for investment in social housing after 2021.
The Scottish Federation of Housing Association (SFHA), Shelter Scotland and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland last week announced their intention to commission new research on housing supply.
The Scottish government is forming plans for social housing for after the current parliament ends in 2021 and has called for evidence.
In a discussion paper published in September last year, the government said that the “current level of spend would be challenging to sustain”, noting that if it were to repeat its current target of 50,000 affordable homes in the next parliament, this would cost £4bn.
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It said other challenges for housing after 2021 will include an ageing population, Brexit, welfare reform, climate change, fuel poverty, homelessness, child poverty, fire safety and ‘island-proofing’.
Sally Thomas, chief executive of the SFHA, said: “It is vital that post-2021, social housing providers can continue to deliver the housing that Scotland needs, and this research will be key to ensuring that happens.”
The partnership is looking to commission researchers now, following on from a previous project launched in 2015 by the same partners and carried out by researchers from Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Sheffield and the Centre for Housing Research at the University of St Andrews.
Callum Chomczuk, national director of CIH Scotland, said: “We know that all across the country, people are priced out of the housing market and are unable to find a safe, warm, affordable home in a place they want to live.
“We hope this new research will help inform the Scottish government’s affordable housing programme post-2021.”
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, added: “Our housing emergency is the result of decades of underinvestment in affordable housing in Scotland.
“While the current building programme includes the largest expansion of social housing since the 1970s, much more will be needed to meet the demand that has built up over the last 40 years. This research will give us critical information on what action is needed after 2021 to ensure everyone has access to an affordable, safe and secure home.”
