HOUSING Secretary Mairi McAllan has pledged almost £5 billion over the next five years to build 36,000 affordable homes as part of an emergency action plan – but campaigners have warned that rent cap exemptions undermine the whole plan.
During her statement, the Housing Secretary stated that she would exempt mid-market and build-to-rent properties from plans to cap rents to “protect and promote investment”.
McAllan promised the Scottish Government will invest £4.9bn over the coming four years, adding this could provide “up to 24,000 children with a warm, safe home”.
More details of the funding will be announced in the forthcoming spending review, she said, adding that the money would be a “mixture of public and privately leveraged investment”.
McAllan also committed to introducing Awaab’s law, named after Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old who died after exposure to mould in his Rochdale home in 2020. This will seek to ensure landlords promptly address issues that could be hazardous to tenants, and will come into effect in March 2026.
In response to rent control exemptions, the Scottish Greens accused McAllan of “listening to the landlord lobby” and called for intermediate protections to be brought in as the bill, which is at stage three and has not yet passed, will not come into effect until 2027.
Speaking to MSPs, McAllan said: “In support of this ambition, and knowing how vital continued development is to the availability and affordability of homes, I take this opportunity to confirm my intention, in principle, to exempt mid-market rent and build-to-rent properties, where appropriate, from the rent controls being introduced in the Housing (Scotland) Bill.
"Such exemptions would be designed to protect and promote investment in these sectors and was a clear call from our Housing Investment Taskforce."
Ruth Gilbert, chair of Living Rent, said that the announcement was “more bluster” and that the Scottish Government is “tinkering around the edges” rather than delivering protections for tenants.
“Exempting build-to-rent and mid-market homes from rent controls undermines the entire Housing Bill.
“It will create a two-tier system of rent controls that will leave many tenants without protections and allow developers to maximise profits at tenants’ expense.”
Gilbert welcomed the commitment to build 36,000 affordable homes over four years and the introduction of Awaab’s law, but said the measures do not go “far enough”.
She added: “The number of affordable homes promised is close to half of what Scotland needs. ‘Affordable homes’ must be genuinely affordable – that is housing for social rent.”
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said tenants “cannot afford to wait” until the Housing Bill bring rent controls into effect.
“The Cabinet Secretary has clearly been listening to the landlord lobby,” she said.
“The government agreed that renters needed protection from exploitative landlords when they agreed to bring in emergency rent controls. Those protections are still needed against the rent hikes and evictions that are happening today.
“With winter approaching, it is vital that people and families are not forced to choose between heating and eating, or paying even more for their rent than they can afford. This could lead to evictions and increased homelessness, caused by the landlord lobby’s greed."
Earlier, McAllan promised the Scottish Government would double funding for housing acquisitions this year to £80m.
Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson told how 2.3 million adults across the country had been affected by the housing emergency – adding there were 10,360 children “trapped in temporary accommodation”.
She stated: “Scotland urgently needs an action plan with long-term investment to fix a broken and biased system.
“At least 15,693 affordable homes a year is the bare minimum if the Scottish Government is serious about tackling homelessness and getting children out of harmful accommodation. We simply cannot afford not to do it.”
To help those fleeing domestic violence, McAllan promised the government would establish a national “fund to leave” with £1m – saying this could help up to 1200 women and their children leave an abusive relationship.
Meanwhile, £4m this year will go on expanding Housing First tenancies, which provide permanent homes along with support for those who have been homeless and who have “multiple and complex needs”.
In response, Scottish Labour housing spokesperson Mark Griffin said the strategy she had delivered “lacks ambition”.
He said: “The promise to move children out of temporary accommodation is welcome, but the SNP’s plan still consigns at least 9200 kids to these shameful conditions.”
Scottish Tory MSP Meghan Gallagher added: “The SNP need to go much further and faster in tackling the housing emergency, but these measures will do very little to achieve this.”
