Massive spike in cash for homes

A Renfrewshire MSP is hailing record investment in building new affordable homes.

Finance Secretary and member for Renfrewshire North and West, Derek Mackay, said £1.75 billion over the next three years is going on helping councils build new houses.

Holyrood revealed there have been 10,276 affordable homes approved in 2016-17, but has set a target of delivering at least 50,000 by 2021.

Mr Mackay said:“By providing the planned resources for the next three years, our local authorities can plan high-quality, energy efficient and affordable homes.

“This provides a further boost to the construction industry – supporting the economy and an estimated 14,000 jobs each year.

“We are currently seeing the highest levels of activity in the affordable house-building sector since the early 1980s.

“With affordable site starts and completions increasing, this represents an excellent pipeline of projects across Scotland.

“We have committed to year-on-year increases in funding for affordable homes to be shared by local authorities – from £532 million in 2018-19, to £591 million in 2019-20, rising again to £630 million in 2020-21.”

He added it is the first time councils have been given full allocations for housing beyond the current financial year, providing certainty to enable them to ramp up their building plans.