But while ministers yesterday rolled back on last year’s cut in the draft annual budget – they have been warned it remains billions short of what is needed by 2032 to build the affordable homes required to end the nation’s housing and homelessness emergency and meet their own building targets.
In a Budget statement, finance secretary Shona Robison said it would return affordable homes spending to a “higher level” than it was two years ago.
The Scottish Government has confirmed it is investing £768m in 2025/26 for affordable homes. It is actually £11m less than was allocated in 2021/22.
The Scottish Government’s affordable homes budget had taken a cumulative hit of over £280m over the previous three years without taking inflation into account – based against the 2021/22 allocation of £779.776m – despite a pledge by outgoing First Minister Humza Yousaf earlier this year of a £80m uplift for affordable housing over the next two years.
Housing campaigners had been staggered by a £196.08m (26%) cut to the budget in the 2024/25 alone, without taking into account inflation, with the spending plans set at £555.862m before Mr Yousaf’s uplift.
The professional standards body, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland said that ministers had to do far more than the reversal of the cuts that have already been made to the affordable housing budget.
It estimates a further £7.5bn is still needed by 2032 to build the affordable homes required to end the nation’s housing emergency.
If the Scottish Government continued to invest the same £768m to up to 2031/32, it would still be around £3bn short of what it is estimated is required to deliver on the building targets.
Callum Chomczuk, CIH national director for Scotland said that the budget u-turn was a “welcome start” but that it only brings the spend to “where were 12 months ago and that wasn’t enough then”.
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He said: “We need to take a long term focus to housing in Scotland as the restoration of £200m for the affordable housing budget means we are still spending less in real terms than the budget in 23/24 and that wasn’t enough then.
“And we now have 13 local authorities and the Scottish Parliament all declaring a housing emergency and record levels of homelessness presentations and children living in temporary accommodation.
“The budget must be the start of a long term and cross party consensus on building social and affordable housing. I hope all political parties agree to prioritise building more homes and improving housing outcomes, so everyone has a safe affordable home to live in.
“We need to front load and kick start our affordable housing supply programme.”
If the affordable homes budget had kept up with inflation since 2021/22 in 2024/25, the spending plans would have been at an estimated £985.32m.
When inflation has been taken into account, it is estimated that instead of getting £2.631bn over the three years – the affordable homes budget was at £2.058bn – a drop of £573m.
The Scottish Government has, meanwhile, fallen way behind in a key target in its 2021 Programme for Government to deliver 110,000 social and affordable homes by 2032 with 70% for social rent.
There have been 19,980 affordable homes completed, that have received some sort of public money support in the first two years till March 31 this year – meaning it was at that point already 2,620 short of an 11,300 homes a year target.
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As of the end of June, with seven-and-a-half years of the target to go 87,527 homes remain to be completed to meet the target, at an average of over 11,670 a year.
Scots tenants rights group Living Rent said the reversal of last year’s were a “long awaited sign” that the Scottish Government government was “finally taking the housing emergency seriously” but said the £768m was “just a drop in he ocean compared to what is needed”.
Campaigners have praised the Herald for “forcing” a U-turn in the Scottish Government’s attitude to affordable homes.
The Scottish Tenants Organisation said: “We praise your newspaper for helping to generate this u turn by the Scottish Government in reversing the cuts to the Scottish Affordable Housing Supply Programme which will result in more social rented homes being built in Scotland and will start to tackle the housing and homeless emergency in Scotland.
“Much more needs to be done and that includes improving funding for local authority homeless services so that homeless people especially women with children no longer live in squalid, overcrowded and unsuitable accommodation in Scotland.
“Your campaign to eradicate housing and homelessness in 2024 has been crucial to changing the policies of the Scottish Government.”
Thirteen of Scotland’s 32 councils have declared housing emergencies since Argyll and Bute Council became the first in June, 2023. The latest to make the pronouncement was East Lothian Council three weeks ago, saying its allocation for preparing its Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for 2025-2030 as £37m, averaging just over £7m per year – in comparison to an average of £12m per year in the previous five years.
And the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) said it was likely that more will follow as demand continues to surge.
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations said that beyond the latest annual budget it hoped it marked a “much-needed reset on the Scottish Government’s approach to social housing”.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, said she welcomed Scottish Government acknowledgment that last year’s cut to the affordable housing budget was a mistake.
She added: “Since then, misery has needlessly been inflicted on thousands of households who have had to live first through the distress of losing their homes, and then having nowhere to turn because local services have been decimated.
“They reversal of the cuts to housing and investment in local services are welcome. Now it is time for a step change in how the Scottish Government tackles Scotland’s housing emergency and the pace at which it does so.
“Of course, we accept the reality of budget pressures but if the Scottish Government wants to be taken seriously when it tells us it’s still committed to tackling child poverty then it needs to prove it is serious about ending child homelessness.
“That means showing that today’s cash can deliver change for the more than 10,000 children who will wake up facing homelessness this Christmas Day – the highest number on record and more than double the figure from a decade ago.
“Building more social homes is the only way to end the housing emergency, and the government knows this.”
Responding to The Herald, finance secretary Shona Robison said: “Far too many families are still in temporary accommodation.
“That is why we are going to ramp up action on housing…
“That enables over 8,000 new properties for social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership to be built or acquired this coming year.
“And given the scale of the housing challenge, I will look at all the levers available for me to deliver.”