Scotland at risk of losing more homes that it builds warns Shelter Scotland

Scotland is at risk of losing more social homes than it builds each year Shelter Scotland has said following the publication of worrying new figures on housing delivery. 

Figures released today show that approvals, starts, and completions for new social homes all declined in 2023 compared to the previous year.  

The charity said this decline social housing delivery is an inevitable consequence of successive cuts to the housing budget. 

It added that the possibility of losing existing stock due to issues with RAAC, as seen recently in Aberdeen, and social landlords struggling to bring older properties up to modern standards raises the prospect of Scotland’s overall social housing stock starting to decline.  

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said:  

“Now that the post-pandemic backlog has been cleared, we’re starting to see the consequences of a tightening housing budget; by every measure social housing delivery is slowing down drastically. 

“Approvals and starts on social homes have been declining for years, and that trend continues in these figures. Given that, the drastic fall in completions was inevitable. 

“These figures don’t even reflect the effects of the latest 26% cut to the housing budget which prompted widespread dismay across the housing sector. 

“Just recently we’ve seen social homes in Aberdeen removed from the stock due to issues with RAAC and it’s likely that same scenario will happen elsewhere. Meanwhile, social landlords are struggling to bring older properties up to current standards so there’s a very real risk that soon Scotland will be losing more social homes than it builds. 

“That’s a daunting prospect in the middle of a housing emergency and it’s why we’re calling on the Scottish Government to rapidly deliver an emergency action plan, which acknowledged the urgency of the situation and sets out an effective strategy to address it.”