Housing crisis

With Scotland still mired in an ongoing housing crisis, the figures say it all: overall housing production is now 40 per cent lower than in 2007 despite a record population and growing number of households. Some 150,500 people are on housing waiting lists and an estimated 21,500 new homes are required each year to meet demand yet fewer than 15,000 were built last year. It has been nearly two years since Audit Scotland highlighted the need for half a million new homes over the next 25 years.

While all political parties south of the Border have been setting targets and announcing new housing initiatives as part of their general election manifestos, the Scottish Government remains silent.

Its latest housing statistics for the year to end September 2014 highlight an increase in production of 6 per cent compared with the same period the previous year. But questions remain surrounding the sustainability of this increase amidst the funding issue around the Scottish Government’s Help to Buy shared equity scheme and a production drop-off in the last quarter.

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We urge the Scottish Government not to wait any longer and take the decisive action which is long overdue and needed now on planning, land availability, funding and help for SME builders to ensure we have enough homes in the right locations to house our growing population.

Philip Hogg

Homes for Scotland

Edinburgh