TRADE body Homes for Scotland (HFS) has urged the Scottish Government to use the £300 million of Barnett Consequential funding allocated in the Spring Budget to restore the Scottish housing budget, which was cut by 27.7%.
Following the ‘hugely devastating’ cut to the Housing and Building Standards Budget, alongside 26% and 43% reductions in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and Planning Budget, HFS chief executive Jane Wood said, “Whilst we await further clarity on how the newly announced funding will be utilised by the Scottish Government, we are calling on the deputy first minister to honour her commitment that any extra money made available to Holyrood will be prioritised for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and in doing so, help mitigate the prolonged housing inequality experienced currently in Scotland.
“With multiple local authorities having already declared housing emergencies, and our recent independent research finding that over a quarter of Scottish households find themselves in one or more forms of housing need, housing should rightly be prioritised by the Scottish Government to ensure the wide-ranging socio-economic benefits that increased housing delivery across all tenures can be realised.”
