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Scotland

Housing Delivery Plan 2026

The next Scottish Government must commit to reducing affordable housing need by the end of the next parliament.

To do this, government must deliver the social homes and housing rights we need.

Delivering the social homes we need

Shelter Scotland is calling for: 

  • at least 15,693 new social homes every year for the next 5 years, backed by at least £8.8bn of investment, delivered at the heart of vibrant, accessible communities and in areas of greatest need 

  • a new National Housing and Land Agency, focused on reducing affordable housing need 

  • maximum use of existing housing stock to help reduce housing need through acquisitions, work on empty homes and greater allocations of social homes to homeless households

Delivering the housing rights we need

Shelter Scotland is calling for: 

  • an end to law-breaking and a guarantee that existing rights are here to stay, backed up with the resources needed to enforce them 

  • an enforceable and funded Human Right to Adequate Housing as part of the delayed Human Rights Bill 

  • an end to unsafe and harmful temporary accommodation for children 

  • work to end the systemic inequality that defines Scotland’s housing system, including through continued mitigation of the bedroom tax, benefit cap, and an end to the two-child limit

  • work to tackle systemic racism in Scotland’s housing system, and provide targeted support for those who most need it – from women and people with disabilities, to those without access to digital services

Our Housing Delivery Plan

Our Housing Delivery Plan for Scotland details the actions that all parties need to prioritise after the 2026 Scottish election.

Read our plan in full.

The evidence behind our Housing Delivery Plan

This plan has been informed by evidence, research, and from the experiences of people at the sharp end of Scotland's housing emergency.

The emergency demands a renewed focus on delivering social homes, and delivering housing rights.

Delivering social homes

Our analysis has shown that this housing emergency has been caused by decades of underinvestment in new social housing.

Read more about the evidence behind this analysis.

Delivering housing rights

Our analysis has shown that there has been insufficient action by Scottish, UK and local government to protect housing rights and tackle the housing emergency.

Read more about the evidence behind this analysis.

Read more about the Scotland we want to see

In May next year, Scotland goes to the polls.

This is a critical moment to turn the housing emergency around. We need political parties to hear a very simple message - build Scotland, build hope, build social housing.

Read our Scottish election message