SFHA feeds into Scottish Labour Manifesto for Holyrood Election in 2026
SFHA has submitted its views to the Scottish Policy Forum, whose role it is to help shape Scottish Labour’s policy agenda.
SFHA has submitted its views to the Scottish Policy Forum, whose role it is to help shape Scottish Labour’s policy agenda. This is a key opportunity to develop ideas and inform the manifesto that Scottish Labour will take into the 2026 Holyrood election.
The forum identified four ‘commissions’ to guide the consultation and focus on areas where change might make the biggest impact;
- Becoming an economic powerhouse to improve lives
- A modern NHS and social care system that puts people at the centre
- From cradle to career: giving young people the best start in life
- More equal and safer communities where we can all thrive
In our response to the consultation, SFHA focused on key areas which are most important to our members and your tenants, and which will make the biggest difference to tackling the housing emergency, the climate emergency, and poverty and inequality.
We urged the party to prioritise public investment and resources into improving the supply of social and affordable housing to directly tackle the housing emergency. To improve social housing supply, we also made a number of inputs on themes such as benchmarks and the cost of development, regulation of RSL’s and new builds, and acquisitions.
Our jointly commissioned piece of reserarch with Shelter and CIH on the true scale of housing supply need post-2026 will be used to influence all the parties plans further once we have an accurate number for the number of social and affordable homes needed.
We also called for more clarity on net zero standards from any future Scottish Government, and for the cost of net zero to be adequately met by the Government so the financial burden does not fall on tenants and rental income is freed up for maintenance and new development.
On health and social care, we urged recognition of the role housing providers play in the wider system – either as a direct care provider or as an important strategic partner – and for greater alignment across these three services.
Other key areas raised included funding for aids and adaptations to ensure our homes are accessible and meet people’s needs, funding for tenancy sustainment and homelessness prevention, as well as support for the range of wider services and community investment initiatives our members are involved in.
Anybody who is interested in reading the SFHA submission in full can contact Tom at tockendon@sfha.co.uk for a copy.