Easing Pressure On Temporary Accommodation

11th September 2024

Councils will receive a share of an additional £40m this year to increase the supply of social and affordable homes.

The funding, which was confirmed in April and has boosted the affordable housing supply programme budget to nearly £600m this year, will mostly be distributed to the five council areas with sustained temporary accommodation pressures: Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

The money will be used to purchase properties to help reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation or, where appropriate, to bring long term voids back into use.

The remaining 27 local authorities will receive a share of the remaining funding. A further £40m will be allocated to councils next year.

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said:

"The delivery of affordable homes is the foundation of family life and is fundamental to how we achieve our priorities of eradicating child poverty and growing the economy.

“The key to tackling homelessness and reducing the time spent by families in temporary accommodation is to deliver more affordable homes.

“We have already supported councils to purchase almost 1,500 properties in 2023-24 for use as affordable homes. However, we must do more and, by committing £40m this year, we are accelerating that work.

“This money will help councils provide a warm, safe place that families can call home again."

Local authorities will receive the following share of funding:

Local authority
£m

Aberdeen City
0.375

Aberdeenshire
0.173

Angus
0.066

Argyll and Bute
0.135

City of Edinburgh
14.882

Clackmannanshire
0.173

Dumfries and Galloway
0.222

Dundee City
0.637

East Ayrshire
0.122

East Dunbartonshire
0.224

East Lothian
0.440

East Renfrewshire
0.196

Eilean Siar
0.082

Falkirk
0.751

Fife
1.848

The Highland Council
0.653

Glasgow City
11.544

Inverclyde
0.040

Midlothian
0.471

Moray
0.369

North Ayrshire
0.293

North Lanarkshire
0.673

Orkney Islands
0.085

Perth and Kinross
0.066

Renfrewshire
0.168

Scottish Borders
0.146

Shetland Islands
0.082

South Ayrshire
0.301

South Lanarkshire
1.724

Stirling
0.750

West Dunbartonshire
0.309

West Lothian
2.001

Total
40.000