political parties to commit to urgent housing justice ahead of next years Holyrood election. A joint manifesto from the Everyone Home group will be launched at Scotland’s Annual Homelessness conference, which begins in Pert today…….calling for a dramatic increase in social housing.

Professor John Robertson OBA

Not mentioned, in the above BBC Scotland broadcast today:

The Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) budget will increase by 26% in real terms to £768 million in 2025-26. This will support the delivery of at least 8,000 new affordable homes including for social rent, mid-market rent and low-cost home ownership.

nor

This will support the delivery of at least 8,000 new affordable homes with at least 70% for social rent.

Also, never mentioned in the ‘Scottish’ media:

Social housing in Scotland factcheck – 40% more availability, no damaging right to buy, bigger grants and greater fire safety

Amongst all the current media frenzy about a one-year down-turn in new social media building, these important, positive, contextual facts, published in a review by the Wheatley Group in May 2024, are getting no attention:

Social housing is more prevalent in Scotland than England, comprising 23% of all Scottish housing stock (11% RSLs / 12% Local Authorities), compared to 16.4% in England (10.1% RPs / 6.3% Local Authorities). Scotland has similar rate of owner-occupation than England, 63.7% compared to 64.1%. Statistics based on March 2022 returns

One of the most important powers devolved to the Scottish Government is the ability to permit the continued payment of housing benefit from the Department of Work and Pensions directly to housing associations (“HAs”). This option is also available for all tenants on Universal Credit whereby Scottish HAs can receive UC payments directly for rental payments in contrast to English RPs. This means Scottish HAs have a significant risk mitigation not available to their English counterparts.

The Scottish Parliament’s Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 provided for Right to Buy to be abolished in Scotland from 31 July 2016.

New build grant levels significantly higher than England (social rent benchmark £91.2k; mid-market rent benchmark £62.5k; additional funding of up to £20.2k per unit for zero/low carbon heating, working-from-home space, access to outdoor space/balconies, EV charging points, broadband etc.

Bedroom tax effectively abolished in Scotland through Scottish Government subsidy.

More traditional, low risk business model based on social housing. No build for sale.

Building regulations were changed in Scotland in 2005 making it mandatory for builders to ensure any external cladding inhibits fire spreading. While the UK Government’s Independent Expert Panel on Fire Safety published consolidated advice on building safety in January 2020, which was subsequently withdrawn in January 2022 with the housing sector awaiting an update later this year (2022), Scottish building and fire regulations, standards and guidance are devolved.

Source: 

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=a0ac401356a93f643c1d6b2e5453cdb0daa5988c59b1dc71cbf665cd77b16b2dJmltdHM9MTc1MDgwOTYwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=040f0c0f-8f6f-69bb-36d4-18948ed46872&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2hlYXRsZXktZ3JvdXAuY29tL19fZGF0YS9hc3NldHMvcGRmX2ZpbGUvMDAxOS8yMzY0MTMvRW5nbGlzaC1hbmQtU2NvdHRpc2gtU29jaWFsLUhvdXNpbmctU3lzdGVtcy11cGRhdGUtTWF5MjQucGRmIzp-OnRleHQ9My4zJTIwU29jaWFsJTIwaG91c2luZyUyMGlzJTIwbW9yZSUyMHByZXZhbGVudCUyMGluJTIwU2NvdGxhbmQsb2YlMjBvd25lci1vY2N1cGF0aW9uJTIwdGhhbiUyMEVuZ2xhbmQlMkMlMjA2My43JTI1JTIwY29tcGFyZWQlMjB0byUyMDY0LjElMjUu&ntb=1June 25, 2025johnrobertson834history, labour-party, news, politics, scotlandEdit

As families face up to one hundred year waits for social housing in England, Miles Briggs (Con) reveals it’s ‘longer than a year’ in Scotland

In the Guardian in April 2025:

The wait for family-size social housing has risen to more than 100 years in parts of England, which charities have condemned as “ludicrous” and a “national scandal”. Analysis from the National Housing Federation (NHF), Crisis and Shelter found that in 32 local authority areas across England, the wait for a home with at least three bedrooms was longer than 18 years – the duration of an entire childhood. The worst three councils, all of which are in London, have waiting lists exceeding 100 years, while nine local authorities have waiting lists of more than 50 years.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/09/hundred-year-wait-family-size-social-housing-england

I can’t find the figures for this year in Scotland, but in August 2023, Miles Briggs MSP was able to reveal:

The Scottish Government’s “failure to prioritise the social housing emergency” has been branded “disgraceful” after it was revealed average waiting times for social housing are longer than a year in most councils. Freedom of information data showed that in 21 of the 29 councils which responded, average waiting times for social housing were longer than 12 months.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23707271.average-social-housing-wait-majority-scotland-year/

There’s more:

SNP-run Glasgow City built 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool last year

In the Guardian yesterday:

According to the housing charity Shelter, in the 12 months leading up to March 2025, Liverpool city council received 2,048 applications for homelessness support, a 25% increase on the previous year. The most recent data shows 12,764 households on the city’s social housing waiting list. But one figure is particularly shocking: reflecting the fact that most local authorities now lack either the means or will to build anything more than paltry amounts of new social housing, the city’s “additional social rent dwellings” in 2023-24 totalled – and read this slowly –FIVE.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/19/britain-housing-crisis-social-rent-liverpool

Glasgow City has 110 000 social rented homes compared to 12 764 in Liverpool.

https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/12942/Social-housing

In 2023/2024, Glasgow City Council completed 558 new social rent homes, down from the average of 760 per year between 2018 and 2023, compared to only 5 in Liverpool.

https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/article/10245/Housing-Emergency

Liverpool’s population is 510 000 compared to Glasgow’s 622 000, only one quarter larger, yet Glasgow has 9 times as many and built more than 100 times as many, social rent homes in 2023/2024

I’ll stop there.

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