Scotland's affordable housing needs not being met

At least 12,000 homes need to be built every year for the next five years to meet demand in Scotland, according to a report by three housing associations.

Undertaking such a programme would cost £700 million a year. The Scottish Government currently has a target of building 6,000 affordable homes per year.

The report – Affordable Housing Need in Scotland – was carried out by a team from the independent Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam, Sheffield University and the University of St Andrews.

It was commissioned by Shelter Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, and calls for the biggest house building programme in Scotland since the 1970s.

The housing associations are calling on all of Scotland's political parties to set "ambitious" targets for new affordable housing in their manifestos for next year's Scottish Parliament election.

The Scottish Government is to consider the report but said it is "already delivering a huge boost to affordable housing provision", with 30,000 properties to be completed by the end of the life of the current parliament.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: "The 12,000-a-year target for new affordable homes is the minimum level required to tackle Scotland's housing crisis.

"We are calling on all political parties in Scotland to acknowledge there is a crisis by making the building of new affordable homes a priority in their manifestos for the forthcoming Holyrood elections and use the 12,000 target as a benchmark for their ambitions.

"Politics is about making choices and we have simply got to do more to reduce homelessness in Scotland."