The SNP have delivered 96,750 affordable homes since 2007, nearly 67,000 of which were for social rent, including 14,661 council homes. If re-elected, the SNP will deliver a further 100,000 affordable homes by 2032 with at least 70% of these for social rent.
Once the current 50,000 affordable homes target has been delivered, we will meet this new target through a combination of new build homes and bringing existing housing stock back into use. This will support around 12,000 to 14,000 jobs each year.
The SNP has committed to developing a new Rented Sector Strategy in 2021. This will provide greater protections from unreasonable rent increases, give people affordable choices when renting, and increase protections for tenants.
As a part of this, the SNP will reform existing Rent Pressure Zone legislation to ensure local authorities can use it to directly address unreasonably high rents in localised areas. These changes will be incorporated in a new Housing Bill early in the next Parliament.
Furthermore, we will continue with our Ending Homelessness Together Plan backed by a new fund of £50 million over the parliamentary term. Our aim is that everyone should have a warm and safe place to live. That is why ending homelessness and rough sleeping is a national priority for us.
We will also invest in replacing winter night shelters with new rapid-rehousing welcome centres to provide short term emergency accommodation and to help people into settled accommodation including through Housing First where people with complex needs are provided with wrap around support to maintain tenancies.
Finally, we will invest in a rapid rehousing approach and will introduce a national programme to increase housing choices for those facing homelessness.
Fiona Hyslop