The Scottish government’s ‘Programme for Government’, announced yesterday, will not be enough to tackle the growing housing challenges in Scotland, it has been suggested.
The programme includes a commitment to increasing affordable housing supply, regulating short-term lets, improving energy efficiency in homes, and supporting tenants’ rights. The overall impact is intended to be a more accessible, affordable, and sustainable housing sector, though the success will depend on effective implementation and resource allocation.
Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: “The Scottish government’s Programme for Government comes at an important juncture with the unresolved housing emergency and Holyrood elections in 12 months’ time. Implementing the recommendations of the Housing Investment Taskforce and allowing more properties to be exempt from rent control areas are welcome.
“However, to truly bring down the cost of renting and get more people on the housing ladder as well as make it easier for people to buy and sell their homes, the Scottish government must urgently review all costs and taxes impacting private landlords, reduce the Additional Dwelling Supplement and revise the bands and reduce the rates for Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. These are powers held by Scottish Ministers and action must be taken.”
As the country remains gripped in a national housing emergency, sector body Homes for Scotland (HFS), whose members deliver the majority of the country’s new homes of all tenures, expressed disappointment at the lack of prominence, urgent interventionism and detail relating to housing delivery in yesterday’s Programme for Government.
HFS chief executive, Jane Wood, said: “There are some encouraging elements in the 2025/26 Programme for Government, including the commitment to make it easier to invest and do business in Scotland by ensuring future regulation is scrutinised for its impact on business and investment, and the assessment of regulatory controls in housing by the end of 2025. Much more is required, however, given the sheer scale of the challenge that faces our country.
“It has nearly been a year since the Scottish Parliament declared a national housing emergency and in the interim we have seen record numbers of children living in temporary accommodation, all sector starts and completions continue to fall and absolutely no support for our struggling SME home builders (who are so crucial to increasing the supply of high quality energy efficient homes in rural areas and on brownfield sites) despite our extensive work to produce recommendations for the Scottish Government to take forward.
“The recommendations of the Housing Investment Taskforce are still yet to be published and we still do not have any clearly defined operational status regarding the much-vaunted Planning Hub. Calls for an annual all-tenure target for the delivery of 25,000 homes made by a range of charities and business organisations over the last week or so have also gone unheeded.
“We needed so much more from today’s announcement.
“We needed a bold interventionist approach to increase housing delivery across all tenures in Scotland. Unfortunately, the housing emergency remains without an emergency response, with the Scottish Government missing a clear opportunity to reset the scale of its ambition on housing and ensure both national and local policy is shaped to tackle the housing emergency head on.
“Home builders are waiting to play their part in delivering Scotland’s all-tenure housing but it feels that we are in a landscape where the government seems unable or unwilling to fully acknowledge just how important housing is to Scotland’s social wellbeing and economic success.”
Architect and TV presenter George Clarke highlights that there are simply not enough new homes being developed.
He said: “While having a place to call a home is about so much more than bricks and mortar, the stark reality is that so many people across the country are unable to even begin to dream of what it’s like to have their own home as simply not enough houses are being built.”
He added: “Importantly, delivering the homes we need has wide-ranging positive impacts. As well as providing roofs over heads, they support improved health and education outcomes, the transition to net zero, jobs, skills and the economy. For example, for every new home built, three and half jobs are supported.”
Jane Wood, CEO of Homes for Scotland, concurred: “In a country like ours in the 21st century, it is difficult to believe that we don’t have enough homes to house our population. Unfortunately, however, that is the reality we are currently living in, with the Scottish Parliament declaring a national housing emergency in May last year. This is not a situation that evolved overnight, rather it is the result of decades of failed policy making. But, we can’t afford to look back and point fingers, we must look ahead and take a long-term view so that we never fall into same situation again.
“A year on since the housing emergency was declared, delivery levels of new homes are yet to return to pre-global financial crisis of 25k per annum and we are seeing the lowest level of private housing completions since 2017, with our research showing that 90% of all social homes are delivered by the private sector.”
