Question reference: S5W-03377
- Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 30 September 2016
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Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 13 October 2016
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage the private sector to build more homes to alleviate housing shortages.
Answer
In every year since 2007 we have maintained higher build rates than England and Wales and in 2015 had the highest all-sector build rate in the UK.
Our assistance for the private sector has included £0.5 billion investment in Help To Buy (Scotland) to support home buyers and the industry with access to lower deposit mortgages.
Alongside this the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers (LIFT) schemes have helped over 22,000 households into home ownership since 2007 and in the Highlands area the two year £4million pilot Self Build Loan Fund is helping households design and build a home of their choice while supporting the SME house building industry.
Scottish Investment Bank have recently agreed to support funding for SME house builders to encourage them to increase supply and the £50million infrastructure fund in 2016-17 has been set up to remove blockages for both private and affordable housing on strategic sites.
Scottish Ministers welcomed the recommendations of the Independent Review of Planning in July 2016 and aim to produce a White Paper by the end of 2016 which will contain proposals to assist housing and infrastructure delivery amongst other issues.