Meeting of the Parliament 13 September 2017
Of course, which is why we think that half of the houses that should be built in Scotland should be affordable housing. However, I will not make any apology for a policy that enabled half a million Scots to own their own homes.
Relationship choices are also being constrained, and ties to communities are being severed, with half of renters believing that they will not be able to afford a home in their local area in their lifetime. That is not to mention the difficulties of saving enough for a decent deposit.
Those are the issues that we face, and there is no mystery as to what is driving them. The same issues come up in any review or evidence session: the availability of land at reasonable prices, the lack of infrastructure or delays in delivering it, planning system delays and conditions, disconnect between agencies, nimbyism, and housing not being seen as a priority by Government. That is the background against which we should view the housing shortage, but the Scottish National Party’s response to the crisis has been poor.
In 2007, a full decade ago, Nicola Sturgeon conceded that far too many people in Scotland were unable to satisfy what she called the basic aspiration of home ownership, but in the intervening years, the SNP’s commitment to build 35,000 new homes a year has dwindled to less than half that. Homes for Scotland has argued:
“The single most effective way to address concerns about housing need and affordability is to increase the supply of new homes. Indeed, in order to make our country a better place in which to live, work and invest, it is essential that Scotland has enough homes of the right types in the right locations to meet the diverse housing needs and aspirations of its growing population.”
The SNP pledged in its manifesto to build at least 50,000 new affordable homes over the course of this session of Parliament, but the latest statistics show that last year only 7,300 such homes were built. At that rate, only 36,000 homes—not 50,000—will be completed by the end of this session of Parliament, and the SNP’s target will not be achieved until well into 2023.
The Scottish Government cannot shoulder the blame entirely for the crisis—the economic downturn had its part to play—but it is the Government’s responsibility to create the right conditions for improving housing outcomes, and we have not seen anything like the leadership on the issue that we need. Perhaps it is unsurprising that the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has questioned the adequacy of the policy systems that are in place to address the housing crisis. As it pointed out in 2014, patterns of housing needs and demands are changing, but policy responses are failing to adapt at the necessary pace.
I will set out what we would do to change that. Presently, housing sits alongside local government as a ministerial portfolio under the Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, but if we want housing to be recognised as a key Government priority, it should be elevated to a cabinet secretary position, thereby increasing levels of co-ordination and accountability.
Apart from the availability of land, the lack of appropriate infrastructure is the biggest barrier for house builders and also one of the primary concerns for existing residents, in terms of both road capacity and public services. Key development decisions are increasingly caught in the congestion of the labyrinthine planning system—Government statistics suggest that it takes 64 weeks for a major development to get planning permission.
The Scottish Government’s 2016 review of the planning system called for
“A national infrastructure agency or working group with statutory powers”
to
“be established, involving all infrastructure providers as well as planning representatives.”
However, the Scottish Government’s subsequent consultation on the future of the Scottish planning system has not acted on that recommendation and, indeed, appears to have rejected it.