All 32 of Scotland’s councils will share £406 million in grant over 2016/17 to deliver more affordable homes; over £100 million more than last years’ allocation.
As part of the SNP Government’s overall investment of over £572 million to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) in 2016/17, funding is allocated to each local authority, which the Scottish Government refers to as Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs).
The remaining £166 million will be managed centrally, with £80 million already announced to help up 2,000 first time buyers under the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme. The balance going to other projects that promote innovation, greener homes and the Home Owners’ Support Fund.
Overall funding will support delivery of 9,000 affordable homes, the first part of a £3 billion investment to deliver 50,000 homes by 2021 and 28% more than in the last two years.
In addition to knowing their planning assumptions for 2016/17, councils also need as much advance notice as possible of their full RPAs for 2017/18 and beyond. The SNP Government is committed to five year RPA's. Kenneth Gibson MSP said:
“Councils and registered social landlords are crucial to delivering our ambitious target of at least 50,000 affordable homes across Scotland over the lifetime of the next Parliament.
“This funding boost, together with our recent increase to Housing Association Grant demonstrates our commitment to helping them achieve it. The certainty of long term funding allows councils to plans for affordable housing in their areas, adding momentum to building programmes and encouraging innovation and more efficient use of subsidy.
“The Affordable Housing Supply Programme will support approximately 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs a year in the construction and related industries in Scotland over the next five years.
“This SNP Government is determined to increase the pace and scale of development to deliver more homes across all tenures. We have listened to our partners and are putting in place measures to support the increase in the supply of homes with our More Homes Scotland approach.”
Further Information about More Homes Scotland, an overarching approach to support the increase in the supply of homes across all tenures can be found here
