'Incompetent' ScotGov 'failings' on affordable homes pledge laid bare

The Herald Scotland

25-06-2025

The Scottish Government-backed Affordable Housing Supply Programme was officially launched in March 2022 with a fanfare fronted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon which stated that of 110,000 homes promised by 2032, 77,700 would be for social rent - aimed at low income families.
But since then, official data shows there have been 28,537 affordable homes delivered - 5000 short of what was needed to be on target to deliver on the pledge.
Having fallen behind, to fulfil on its promise by 2032, the Scottish Government would have to deliver at a rate of 1005-a-month from now on, but that is two-and-a-half times the 396 affordable homes-a-month that actually were approved for public funding in 2024/25.
To meet its pledge over the building of social homes for rent, the Scottish Government would have had had to oversee the delivery of 23,692 homes, but currently ministers are around 2,800 short of what was needed to be on target.
The afforeable homes pledge (Image: NQ) To meet the promise of 77,000 homes for social rent by 2032, ministers would have to deliver at a rate of around 690-per-month from now on. But it can be revealed that in 2024/25 an average of just 347 affordable homes for social rent were being approved per month for funding - the lowest level for a decade.
The Scottish Tenants Organisation said that the delivery of affordable homes has been shown to be "woefully short" and said that it shows the "sheer scale of this catastrophe in the social rented sector being overseen by this incompetent Scottish Government" and said there needs to be an emergency housing action plan.
They said: "The Scottish Government is clearly failing the people of Scotland with declining approvals, starts and completions in the affordable housing supply programme and at this rate will fail to meet their own housing targets. This is completely unacceptable."
Housing rights group Living Rent said that despite declaring a housing emergency a year ago, it has "completely failed to show any leadership on solving the crisis of affordable housing".
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"Declaring the emergency should have pushed the government to take concerted action but instead we have seen empty statements and not enough funding," they said.
The Herald revealed in 2023 how professional standards body CIH had raised concerns over cuts to the budget and warned progress on homelessness is at risk without a funding commitment over rapid rehousing in permanent homes rather than in temporary accommodation.
In the wake of the Scottish Government making a symbolic housing emergency declaration in mid-May, last year the key housing professionals group had said that while it is a start, it was not enough as the affordable homes budget, a key part of the Scottish Government bid to end the crisis lost more than £300m over the previous two years alone.
John Swinney (Image: NQ) But in December, John Swinney reversed a near £200m annual cut to the provision of affordable homes although campaigners said it still fell short of what is needed to end the housing and homelessness crisis.
The Herald's seven-point charter for change to help end Scotland's housing emergency, launched last July, was credited by some for sparking the change of heart. It included a call to cut the number of children living in temporary accommodation and a significant increase in the building of affordable homes.
New official analysis further shows that the number of all new housebuilding starts continued to drop in 2024/25 after and is at its lowest since 2012/13 with 15,053 begun in the last financial year.
Some 13 of Scotland's 32 councils declared housing emergencies since Argyll and Bute Council became the first in June 2023.
It comes as the number of small and medium size (SME) home builders has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years.
Red tape and rising costs are highlighted as key issues, with nearly 9 in 10 survey respondents saying government policies are making it harder for them to build, according to sector body Homes for Scotland.
Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the STO said: "Affordable housing has to become the number one priority for the Scottish Government which means that they have to spend hundreds of millions of pounds more to build tens of thousands of new affordable homes to provide warm and secure homes for all so as to greatly reduce social housing waiting lists and eradicate homelessness in Scotland."
Aditi Jehangir, chairman of Living Rent, added: "Every voice on the issue is in agreement. Scotland needs more social housing. This government needs to take proper action now.
Gordon MacRae, Shelter Scotland's assistant director for communications & advocacy, said the decline in the number of social homes being delivered was the "inevitable, and entirely foreseeable, consequence of repeated changes to the housing budget and lack of urgent action from the Scottish Government".
Gordon MacRae (Image: Sarah Beveridge) He said: "If ministers fail to deliver the 110,000 new affordable homes by 2032, they will turn their backs on the thousands of people in Scotland who are being harmed by temporary accommodation while waiting for their forever home.
'Homelessness is rising across the country, and this is the opportunity for our new cabinet secretary for housing to lead in tackling the housing emergency and do things differently. We need homes for people experiencing homelessness and to get those 10,360 children out of temporary accommodation. This must start with sustained investment for more social homes.'
Earlier this month the First Minister urged the UK Government to take more action and spend more money to address Scotland's housing crisis.
Two weeks ago the First Minister was subsequently challenged to finally fix Scotland's housing emergency after the UK Government announced a multi-billion pound investment to build more affordable homes.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that £39 billion will be spent over the next 10 years in England to boost the supply of properties available for social and mid-market rent.
The Chancellor announced the Scottish Government will receive £52 bn in total over the next three years, which means an additional £9bn for Holyrood by 2029.
That came as it was announced Mairi McAllan would serve as the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing after receiving constant criticism in slumps in new build properties at a time of rising homelessness.
The housing secretary said: 'Having a safe, warm and affordable place to call home is critical to a life of dignity and opportunity. The Scottish Government has a strong record in supporting the delivery of affordable homes but demand is high and we must step up our efforts."
She said the affordable homes delivery analysis demonstrated "the challenge we face, but it will be my top priority to ensure everyone in Scotland, and in particular our children, have the opportunity to thrive and I am focussed on delivering that real change".
She added: 'These challenges, which are not unique to Scotland, are made harder to tackle due to an incredibly difficult financial settlement from the UK Government. However, we have consistently invested and have delivered more than 139,000 affordable homes from 2007 to March 2025. 99,000 of these have been made available for social rent. That's 47% more per head of population than England and 73% more than Wales as of March 2024.
'I will re-double efforts now by investing £768m this financial year in affordable housing and give tenants stronger protection against damp and mould through Awaab's Law. We'll also invest a further £2m this year to help councils unlock barriers and to target empty homes."