Already building more affordable housing in Scotland to help fight poverty, this new initiative is important.
From the Scottish Government yesterday and covered nowhere as far as I can see:
Efforts to boost affordable housing supply by acquiring properties to bring into use for affordable housing and help reduce homelessness will be given an £80 million uplift over the next two years.
The funding, announced by First Minister Humza Yousaf on a visit to Hillcrest Housing Association’s Derby Street development in Dundee, will increase the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget to nearly £600 million in 2024-2025.
Investment will help reduce the time spent in temporary accommodation, including by children, and will also accelerate discussions with COSLA in relation to the number of local authority void properties.
The First Minister said:
“Housing is essential in our efforts to tackle child poverty and reduce inequality across Scotland, and it supports jobs and growth in the economy. Providing good quality, affordable housing is at the very core of what my Government is doing to make Scotland a better place.
“While there is a single person homeless in our country, it is simply not acceptable to have houses sitting empty – so I am determined that we remove the barriers, and provide the money that will enable councils to buy properties so they can become affordable homes again.
“This £80 million will build on the success of our National Acquisition Programme which I announced last year, which spent more than £60 million and delivered more than 1,000 affordable homes. This is one of a number of actions we are prioritising to help to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation. We will also accelerate discussion with COSLA in relation to the number of empty council homes.”
Boosting housing supply to tackle homelessness – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Talking-up Scotland / Scottish media fact checking is like shooting fish in a barrel 
GET THIS ANDCEVERY SINGLE BAD LIES FROM ALL UNIONISTS TV,PAPER
or mouthpiece THEY NEED A RIGHT GUID TELLIN AFF
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By far the greater problem is that there is no penalty on a property being left vacant or even allowed to fall derelict - Property has become an investment vehicle strangling the supply and increasing the demand.
The cost of building has risen for sure, but compared to the value of the land it’s peanuts, and with no penalty on the investor…
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You are on the button here.
Unused land and property really has to be taxed in a progressive way so that it is either used or sold for use. By keeping houses unoccupied and spaces, in towns and cities derelict and unused creates an artificial shortage and given the demand for housing the limited available land rises hugely in price.
Even if building costs rise they are still a smaller proportion of the overall cost of a house than the cost of land is.
If land costs can be driven down then with the available money, better standards of housing can be built.
Alasdair Macdonald.
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Brexit has increased the cost of building by a third. Building supplies are now 1/3 higher.
Scottish Gov funding building or renovation 6,000 houses a year. Builders building 17,000 houses. 50,000+ people die each year in Scotland. Pop has increased to 5.4million, since Devolution 2000. The are enough homes but some are not in the right places. Rent and accommodation costs are half of those in the South.
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