A £10 million fund to build affordable homes across the Highlands has been announced by Housing Minister Kevin Stewart today (23rd June).
The Highland Infrastructure Fund is a partnership with The Highland Council and will support and accelerate the delivery of affordable housing across the region.
The government will provide £9 million of the fund with the council providing the additional £1 million.
It will allow the council to provide support in the form of either an infrastructure grant or loan to facilitate housing sites to move forward to construction.
The fund is part of the Inverness and Highland City Region Deal which also includes plans to improve transport networks, digital connectivity and the creation of a hub to encourage innovation of high growth businesses.
Mr Stewart said the fund will support the government's ambitious commitment of delivering 50,000 affordable homes, including 35,000 for social rent by 2021.
He said:"Increasing the supply of affordable homes is a key commitment and vital to our ambition of tackling poverty and inequality in our society.
"Recent figures show encouraging signs of activity within the sector as a whole and we want to keep that momentum going through continued investment.
“This fund will support the delivery of new housing in the Highlands and means
the council can plan for new affordable homes now.
“It's a great example of how partnership working can deliver good quality homes in rural areas that suit the needs of local people, allowing them to remain within their communities."
Leader of the Council, Margaret Davidson said:“Availability of affordable housing is fundamentally important to the sustainability of communities in the Highlands. The Highland Council is committed, with our partners, through the City-Region Deal, to provide quality affordable homes which will help to retain a young and vibrant workforce and give our young people the best possible opportunities."
Inverness will benefit from Scottish Government investment into the city’s infrastructure, following the award of a City Deal in March 2016. This £10 million fund is part of that City-Region Deal and reflects the strong partnership working between the Council and the Scottish Government, that has also seen the creation of the Highland Housing Hub.
New statistics show a level of activity in the affordable house-building sector in Scotland, not seen since the early 1980s, with 10,276 affordable homes approved in 2016/17 - a 29% increase on the year before.
More than £1.75 billion is being allocated to councils across Scotland to stimulate investment in affordable housing.
A full breakdown of each Local Authorities Long term Resource Planning Assumptions are available on the Scottish Government website.