Ministers accused of fuelling housing emergency as new home completions fall

The Scottish Government has been accused of fuelling the housing emergency, as figures showed the number of homes completed last year fell by 17%.

A total of 19,632 homes were built across the country in 2023-24, a drop of 4,150 from the previous year, while construction began on 16,404 homes – down 15%.

In the social housing sector, 5,043 homes were completed - a drop of more than 25% from the previous year - while 3,500 residences were started in a 14% reduction.

Meanwhile, completions and starts dropped by 13% and 16% respectively.

Last year, homes approved through the government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme increased by 9%, but there was also a 9% drop in the number of completions and a 3% decrease in the number of starts.

The number of approvals were at the second lowest level since 2014-15, with the number of new starts was at the lowest since that year.

Earlier this year, MSPs voted to declare a housing emergency in Scotland – following in the footsteps of a number of local authorities.

Scottish Labour has claimed the government has exacerbated the problem.

The party’s housing spokesman Mark Griffin said: “Scotland is in the grips of a devastating housing emergency – from soaring rents to unaffordable mortgages to record levels of homelessness.

“Far from taking the urgent action needed to fix this crisis, the SNP has fuelled it.

“While housebuilding plummets once again, the SNP is ploughing ahead with its disastrous plans to slash funding for affordable housing.

“Meanwhile, the carnage of (former prime minister) Liz Truss’s mini-budget continues to take its toll on mortgages.”

Scottish Conservative housing spokesman Miles Briggs said the government has “totally failed” to address the issue.

“The SNP’s brutal cuts to both council funding and the housing budget has left local authorities unable to help people move into affordable and safe homes,” he added.

“These statistics should be a source of shame for SNP ministers, who have been asleep at the wheel, while the number of new homes being built fell dramatically.”

But housing minister Paul McLennan talked up the government’s record on housing, claiming 131,000 affordable homes have been built since 2007.

“We will continue to build on that record with almost £600m of investment in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in 2024-25,” he added.

“I recently outlined the Scottish Government’s plan to tackle the housing emergency with three key pillars forming part of our approach: more high quality, permanent homes; the right homes in the right places; and a permanent home for everyone.

“While we remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, our capital block grant is being reduced by nearly 10%, a loss of more than £1.3bn by 2027-28.

“Likewise, our financial transactions budget - key to delivering affordable housing - has been cut by 62%.”

Of the 110,000 homes pledged by the government by 2032, 21,092 have been built.

Alison Watson, director of charity Shelter Scotland, said: “The continued decline in the number of social homes being delivered is the inevitable, and entirely foreseeable, consequence of repeated cuts to the housing budget.

“Investing in social housing means investing in people’s health and in our communities.

“Delivering more social housing is the only way to provide permanent homes for the 10,000 children in Scotland who are trapped in temporary accommodation.”

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