Housing Pledges: General Election 2024

Each of the main parties in Scotland agrees that we’re in the grips of a housing emergency and ahead of the UK General Election, each has laid out their ideas for tackling the crisis.

This recognition is welcome, though housing has featured little in the parties’ pitches to voters. We know from our own research that housing is the third most important issue facing the country according to voters – behind health and the economy – but this isn’t always obvious from the Scottish parties’ manifestos.

When it comes to housing, the focus is on home ownership and different ways to support renters and first-time buyers to purchase a home. The Conservative and Labour Party manifestos are especially geared towards this, with the SNP and Liberal Democrats also making nods to home ownership.

The Liberal Democrats put a specific focus on social housing and want to see “social renting re-established as a long-term option” with 150,000 social homes built across the UK per year.

The SNP, Scottish Greens and Alba are all in agreement that the Bedroom Tax should be scrapped, which would save the Scottish Government the £90m a year it costs to mitigate its impact in Scotland.

Energy efficiency and retrofit measures feature in the Labour and Liberal Democrat manifestos, with Labour pledging a five-year programme and the Lib Dems a ten-year programme. Considering the scale of the challenge we face as a society to decarbonise our homes, it’s clear that we’ll need a serious plan put in place to make this happen in a fair and just way.

Reforming the planning system is a central part of the Labour Party’s pitch, with a specific pledge to create a new national planning agency. There are also various references to cladding and RAAC remediation by different parties, but little detail on either.

Both the Liberal Democrats and Alba have recognised the skills challenge which is contributing to the housing emergency, and both have pledged to invest in skills and training to expand the size of the construction sector.

Overall, despite SFHA’s best efforts, housing has played a disappointingly small role in this election to date. Given the record numbers of homeless households and people in temporary accommodation, the length of waiting lists for a social home, the lack of affordability in the private rented sector and for home ownership, and how the lack of homes is holding the whole country back, we really need to see housing pushed up the political agenda and SFHA will be doing all we can to make this happen.

Scottish National Party

Scrap the bedroom tax which affects people claiming Universal Credit or housing benefit with a spare room in their rented council or housing association home.
Devolve Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance to allow the Scottish Government to expand the delivery of social housing and help fund and encourage investment in house building.
Tackle the housing emergency by restoring cuts to the capital budget.
Reintroduce a simplified Help to Buy ISA scheme for first time buyers.
Introduce a RAAC Remediation Fund to ensure new capital money is made available to tackle the problem of ageing Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete in the public sector.

Scottish Conservatives

Set up a Scottish Housing Delivery Agency to increase builds of all types, especially affordable homes.
Focus building on brownfield sites and where there is clear community consent.
Increase the size of the Rural Housing Fund to encourage more house building in remote and rural areas.
Make the redevelopment of long-term empty homes a priority for increasing housing where financially viable, with a national fund set up to support this.
Introduce Compulsory Sales Orders for long-term unoccupied properties.
Oppose rent caps.
Introduce a national Housing First programme to end homelessness in Scotland.
Increase the threshold for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax from £145,000 to £250,000.
Restore funding for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme when financially viable to do so.
Pilot a rent to own model, in which the government would give renters back a quarter of their rent to help them purchase the property they live in.

Scottish Labour Party

Reform Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 to ensure it aligns with long-term strategic objectives on growth, housing, and net zero.
Create a national planning agency with expertise and specialist planning teams that local government can draw on to supplement local departments.
Prioritise the development of suitable brownfield land, but also unlock disused grey belt land for housing and construction where suitable.
Invest £6.6bn over the next parliament to upgrade the energy efficiency of five million homes, partnering with the Scottish Government to roll out the plan to ensure Scottish homes benefit.
Increase housing supply.
Strengthen the requirements for new affordable homes within new developments.
Ensure discounts for low-income buyers are retained when homes are subsequently sold on.
Introduce a permanent new comprehensive mortgage guarantee scheme to support first-time buyers.
Reform the rules for existing support schemes so they are available to more low-income first-time buyers.
Relaunch the Scottish Mortgage to Shared Equity Scheme.
Work with local government to buy up neglected and empty homes, selling them on to future homeowners.
Accelerate the cladding remediation process.
Partner with local authorities to develop a cross-government strategy to reduce homelessness.

Scottish Liberal Democrats

Working with business and communities to develop a new National Housing Plan for Scotland that can stand up to the housing emergency, get more homes built and give people a home to call their own.
Increasing building of new homes to 380,000 a year across the UK, including 150,000 social homes a year, working in partnership with the Scottish Government and through meaningful community engagement to achieve this.
Seeing social renting re-established as a long-term option and thousands of long-term empty homes brought back into use.
Putting the construction sector on a sustainable footing by investing in skills, training and new technologies such as modern methods of construction.
Making homes warmer and cheaper to heat with a ten-year emergency upgrade programme.
Removing dangerous cladding from all buildings.
Exempting groups of homeless people, and those at risk of homelessness, from the Shared Accommodation Rate.
Encouraging the Scottish Government to work with business and local authorities to develop a new programme for key worker housing, helping to alleviate local shortages of vital skills such as qualified carers, nurses and teachers.

Scottish Green Party

Scrapping the Bedroom Tax.
Ban the use of institutional accommodation - barracks, hotels, barges - and ensure all people seeking asylum are housed in decent housing in communities.

Alba Party

Scrapping of the Bedroom Tax.
Establish the target to build 200,000 houses in the five-year term of the Parliament.
Expand the skilled construction workforce by some 50,000.
Take powers to ensure Housing Associations fulfill their fundamental purpose.
Appoint a Cabinet Secretary for Housing.