Comment on new council house programme
9 April 2009
Housing charity Shelter Scotland today (Thursday) urged the Scottish Government to build on their new council house programme by making sure next years Scottish housing Budget didn't fail the people of Scotland.
Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland, housing and homelessness charity, said: 'The UK Government has a real chance to invest in the economy and housing through the Budget in April. Shelter has submitted a fiscal stimulus package to the Treasury that could mean a Barnett formula spin-off of 600 million extra for housing in Scotland. This would build 6,000 homes, get dormant sites working again and sustain over 10,000 jobs. [1]'
Commenting on the allocation of money from the recent Scottish Budget for new council homes, he added: 'We welcome the allocation to councils of 25 million to build new council homes and look forward to the remainder of the money being allocated as soon as possible. It's clear that with a housing crisis already in Scotland, and more people threatened with homelessness because of the recession, that we need to get on with the job of building homes.
'The Scottish Government must keep this momentum going however and council houses are just part of the solution. With the number of new starts of homes down overall, according to the Scottish Government's latest figures [2], and a hole in the housing budget next year where 120 million has been brought forward from, we must ensure funding levels are reinvigorated come the autumn budget.'
