Has ‘affordable housing’ remained affordable across Scotland?

In this report we consider the degree to which housing that is nominally ‘affordable’ in Scotland has remained so over the period 2013/14-2018/19.

Our findings show remarkable geographic variability. Some local authorities in Scotland have seen modest increases in social rents between 2013/14-2018/19. However, in virtually all cases increases in social rents have far outstripped changes in household incomes. This is true for the change in median household incomes in Scotland (4% over the period 2013/14-2018/19) and more so for those households already in socially rented accommodation where household incomes have increased just 0.8% over the same time frame that social rents have increased, on average, 16%.

The document concludes by identifying some areas that merit further investigation with regard to rent setting policies in the social rented sector.