Ash Regan MSP announces her plan to rapidly accelerate affordable house building if elected First Minister:

‘In the last 16 years 100,000 new homes have been built in Scotland within both the private, affordable, and rented sectors. Despite this progress, Scotland is still experiencing a housing crisis, with lengthy local authority housing lists, students struggling to find affordable rental properties, and first-time buyers finding it more challenging to enter the property market.

To address this, I am proud to announce my commitment to delivering an additional 100,000 homes by 2035. To meet this, the Government I lead will introduce a Housing Bill within the first year which will establish ‘Homes Scotland’, a non-governmental executive body aimed at accelerating the housing efforts. It will prioritise the release of land to local authorities and developers and self-builders – who often build to a higher standard – and reduce bureaucratic obstacles, thus enabling faster building.

The Housing Bill will also include measures such as restricted sales on houses that would become second homes, rent controls, the advancement of tenant rights, and the establishment of strategic housing delivery partners. These provisions demonstrate my commitment to the people of Scotland by ensuring that we remain focused on delivering results and solutions to the housing crisis.

It would further look to provide public rental housing, asking officials to deliver mortgage-like funding through the Scottish National Investment Bank, which would avoid the need for public subsidy and allow rent to cover the cost – giving security and certainty to tenants.

With this new Bill, and my target of delivering 100,000 homes, I am confident that the Scottish Government will be better equipped to meet the needs of our citizens and make meaningful progress in addressing the housing situation.’