Chamber and committees

Of the 6,568 housing completions under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme in 2010, a total of 1,469 were completed for low cost home ownership. This figure includes new build, rehabilitation and off the shelf.

The link to the Housing Statistics for Scotland web pages can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NB-AHIP.

The £249 million figure quoted was an estimate made in 2010 and this figure is constantly being reviewed as we manage our budgets over the course of 2010-11. The final amounts and the timing of repayments will therefore not be known until the end of this financial year. Part of the £249 million is for the front funding agreed by Edinburgh and Glasgow City Councils and it will be up to the local authorities to agree with the housing associations and cooperatives that they fund the timing of these repayments. As far as the rest of Scotland is concerned, outwith Glasgow and Edinburgh Transfer of Management of Development Funding agreements, the majority of the estimated housing association front funding is due for repayment and will be repaid in 2011-12; with the bulk of the remainder due for repayment in 2012-13.

The Scottish Government has made representations to the UK Government on the effect of housing benefit changes throughout Scotland, drawing attention to the pressures the changes will cause to Scottish homelessness policy. This has included writing to Lord Freud, the UK Minister for Welfare Reform and sharing our Scottish Impact Assessment report with the Department for Work and Pensions. The report highlights the high proportion of housing benefit claimants in Glasgow compared to the rest of Scotland and includes a section on temporary accommodation changes.

The Scottish Impact Assessment Report is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/supply-demand/chma/marketcontextmaterials/hbchangesscottishimpact/ 

We recognise that Glasgow City Council, in common with the other five stock-transferred local authorities, faces an additional financial pressure with these changes, as it is unable to provide temporary accommodation from its own stock. We have already commenced discussions with Glasgow City Council on the extent of the impact of this.

Our ongoing partnership work with the Regional Housing Options Hubs seeks to promote a greater focus on homeless prevention via the Housing Options approach. This approach has received an enthusiastic welcome from local authorities and the work of hubs continues to move forward at an encouraging pace. However there are very real concerns from within the hubs that changes to Housing Benefit and the resultant impact on homelessness budgets is highly likely to hinder the successful progress of the Housing Options approach across the country.

The Scottish Government/COSLA Joint 2012 Steering Group on Homelessness has also very recently produced a report on the management of temporary accommodation, which outlines specific areas that local authorities may wish to consider as options to improve efficiency and realise savings in temporary homeless accommodation provision. A copy of the report is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/access/homeless/2012Target/tempaccom.

We plan that around 1,500 houses will be built under the £50 million Innovation and Investment Fund. However this will depend upon the bids received for the fund.

We aim to assist around 535 households to access home ownership in 2011-12 under the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers scheme and the Open Market Shared Equity scheme. In addition, the Scottish Government has also announced a £50 million Innovation and Investment Fund scheme. New housing for shared equity will be eligible for funding under this scheme. Applications for funding are currently due to be received at the end of May 2011 and details on allocations will be announced in summer 2011.

In 2009-10 the number of properties purchased under the Scottish Government''s shared equity schemes was 1,979.

Between April and December 2010, the number of properties purchased under the Scottish Government''s shared equity schemes was 657.

This information is recorded on the sales log monitoring database from returns completed by registered social landlords administering the New Supply Shared Equity scheme throughout Scotland. Due to the nature of the collection, there can be a time lag between the sale occurring and being recorded on the database.

An update to Housing Statistics for Scotland will be published at the end of May 2011 on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics.

This will include the number of sales for the period December 2010 to March 2011.

My officials have met with senior representatives from Homes for Scotland (HfS) to discuss how the scheme might be operated.

In addition, on 2 March 2011, a stakeholder group, which includes COSLA, Heads of Planning Scotland, HfS and the Scottish Property Federation, will be given a brief on the new Housebuilding Infrastructure Loan Fund and will be asked for their views regarding operating criteria.

Finally, early conversations with specific housebuilders, property specialists and registered social landlords, have been held to try to assess the number and type of development projects which may seek assistance.

In 2009-10, £60 million was allocated to the Open Market Shared Equity pilot. For 2010-11, a further £20 million was allocated to extend the Open Market Shared Equity pilot. For 2011-12, the Scottish Government will allocate around £5 million to the Open Market Shared Equity scheme.

In 2009-10, the Scottish Government allocated £32.564 million for New Supply Shared Equity/Shared Ownership to housing associations. In 2010-11, the Scottish Government allocated £21.902 million to New Supply Shared Equity/Shared Ownership for housing associations and a further £2.5 million to the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers Trial. For 2011-12, the Scottish Government plans to allocate £8 million to the New Supply Shared Equity with Developers scheme. The Scottish Government has also announced a £50 million Innovative Investment Fund scheme. New housing for shared equity will be eligible for funding under this scheme. Applications for funding are currently due to be received at the end of May 2011 and details on allocations will be announced thereafter.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38652 on 20 January 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.