Affordable homes budget must be Scottish Government’s priority after UK Budget boost

Ending Scotland’s housing emergency must be the First Minister’s top priority after the Scottish Government saw a £3.4billion uplift in yesterday's UK Budget.

In a flagship Budget, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves MP, announced Holyrood stood to benefit from an additional £3.4billion in funding through the Barnett Formula, with £610million being allocated for the capital budget.

The Chancellor also announced the UK Government would plough an additional £500million into England’s affordable homes programme, and SFHA has now called for fresh investment in Scotland’s affordable homes budget.

The Scottish Government declared a housing emergency in May following criticism from campaigners across the housing sector over its £196million cut to the affordable housing budget amid record homelessness.

SFHA has said the additional capital funding in today’s Budget presents the Scottish Government with an opportunity to reverse serious underfunding in Scotland’s housing sector in recent years.

Sally Thomas, SFHA Chief Executive, said: “The Scottish Government has repeatedly said that affordable housing would be its number one priority in the event of an increase to its capital budget, it must now keep that promise and build a better future for the thousands of people across Scotland in need of a safe, affordable home.

“With homelessness at record levels, and the number of housing association homes built last year at its lowest since 1988, it’s clear that recent cuts have had devastating consequences for many of Scotland’s citizens. However, by investing today’s additional capital funding in affordable housing, we can take the first significant step to ending our national housing emergency.”