Not good enough, say Greens: ‘wider crisis cannot be ignored’
The Scottish Government has exceeded its 30,000 affordable homes target by more than 10 %, according to official statistics released yesterday.
Over the last Parliamentary term, 33,490 affordable homes were delivered:
• 22,523 were for social rent – 2,523 more than the five year target. These include 5,992 council house completions – almost 20 % more than the five year target
• 3,473 were for other affordable rent
• 7,494 were for affordable home ownership
The rate of house building completions across all sectors puts Scotland in the lead of every other country in the UK, with more completions than Northern Ireland for the first time since 2006.
The statistics follow the First Minister’s commitment to increasing the supply of homes even further by setting a new target of delivering at least 50,000 affordable homes, backed by more than £3 billion investment, by the end of this parliament.
Housing Minister Kevin Stewart welcomed the statistics while visiting a new affordable housing development by Castle Rock Edinvar in Wester Hailes.
He said: “I’m delighted we have today officially cemented our excellent record on housing. Exceeding the ambitious 30,000 target is no mean feat in a challenging financial environment. Our investment of more than £1.7 billion, as well as the re-introduction of council house building, has meant high quality, energy efficient, affordable homes have been built the length and breadth of the country.
“We are building at a rate faster than anywhere else in the UK, and in fact since 2007 we have built over 41,000 more homes than would have been built at England’s lower per-capita rate. That’s the equivalent of a new town the size of Paisley.
“We have worked hard with the housing sector to deliver these homes as well as develop innovative funding initiatives that have helped both buyers and developers. We can now look forward to continuing with these innovations over the next five years, increasing private and affordable housing supply to rent and buy and further safeguarding social housing for the future.
“Not only do these numbers show we have more than achieved our targets, but they also tell us approvals for affordable homes have increased by 26 % in the 12 months to March. This marks an excellent start to being able to deliver our new, higher target and help supply the homes people and communities need.”
While welcoming the figures, the Scottish Greens are calling on the government to make all housing affordable.
House prices in Scotland increased 61 per cent between 2004 and 2014, while increasing rental costs have seen 210,000 Scots fall into poverty.
Andy Wightman MSP, Housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP for Lothian, said: “While I welcome the achievement of the Government’s target of affordable housebuilding, the wider crisis in housing cannot be ignored.
“Homes should be affordable for all, and we can see that young people face a double-whammy, struggling more than ever to afford to buy their first home, while enduring ever-increasing rents in the private sector.
“In this new session of Parliament I am determined that we find a new way to help everyone afford a home. We can build more houses, to a higher quality, by paying less for land. Councils should have the power to buy land for housing at ‘existing use value’.
“Greens will keep up the pressure on Ministers to pursue our idea of taxing Scotland’s 11,000 hectares of vacant and derelict land. This would raise millions for housebuilding and encourage development of new affordable homes.”
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