Given the enormity of the housing shortage in Scotland (estimated at over 100,000 since 2008) it is perhaps appropriate that the wording in the Scottish Government’s latest Housing Emergency Action Plan, published on 2 September 2025, is redolent of the Olympic motto – Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.
Call to action
Màiri McAllan, the Cabinet Secretary for Housing, outlines the Scottish Government’s determination to go “further and faster” to tackle the housing emergency with a call to action for all partners in the housing sector to work together with the Scottish Government to:
- accelerate the delivery of high-quality homes of all tenures, with a particular focus on social rented affordable homes;
- work to bring an end to children living in unsuitable accommodation;
- support the housing needs of the most vulnerable in communities; and
- unlock land and investment to meet the needs of Scotland’s diverse communities.
Continuing in the sporting theme, the National Planning Improvement Champion is to be sprinting to strengthen customer service quality in planning departments by the end of 2025.
Emergency-led approach
It may have taken 16 months, but this Action Plan finally highlights the Scottish Government’s clear expectation of an emergency-led approach to decision making in the planning system, both in the preparation of local development plans and in the determination of planning applications and a letter from the Cabinet Secretary and Minister for Public Finance has been sent to all planning authorities to this effect. While falling short of reintroducing the presumption in favour of housing as sustainable development, this provides clear direction to decision-makers, at all levels, that they must play their role in supporting the delivery of more homes.
All tenure housing
And in terms of how many homes need to be delivered, the Action Plan introduces a new all-tenure delivery ambition of increasing housing delivery across all sectors by at least 10% each year over the next three years.
Those homes will be delivered through a mixture of £4.9 billion of public and privately leveraged investment, with further details to be outlined in the forthcoming Spending Review.
Jenna Monteith’s blog summarises how the Scottish Ministers propose to eradicate child poverty and provide access to housing for those at greatest risk of homelessness through increasing the supply of affordable housing; described as the “beating heart” of the Scottish Ministers’ approach.
The intention is also to unlock new scale investment opportunities across all tenures by making early decision on the use of powers sought in the Housing (Scotland) Bill to allow for the exemption of certain properties from the rent control measures in the Bill.
Monitoring of national housing policy
NPF4 Policy 16, the national policy on the delivery of housing with its presumption against housing on unallocated land, is often cited as the primary blocker to the delivery of more housing to address the emergency. The Action Plan identifies an intention to closely monitor the implementation of national housing policy and was accompanied by a Ministerial direction requiring planning authorities to notify the Scottish Ministers within seven days of validation of a planning application for 10 or more new homes on land not allocated for housing land and subsequently submit to the Ministers details of the decision on the application and justification for the decision reached. The Ministers already have, of course, the right to call in any planning applications for their own determination if it is in the national interest and we could see these powers being used more often if planning authorities are not seen to be delivering more homes more quickly in their areas.
SMEs
A Ministerial letter will also be issued to planning authorities relating to Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) housebuilders, highlighting their role in rural and brownfield development, and emphasising the need for proportionality in the planning system to enable delivery. The consultation on accelerating build out of new homes will be extended to specifically cover SMEs, as well as measures to increase volume delivery.
The finish line
It may have taken some time to get out of the starting blocks, but it does feel that with this Housing Emergency Action Plan we are finally at the races.
The Cabinet Secretary is looking for urgency, commitment and collaboration to address the housing emergency. It’s time for a personal best from everyone in the sector to deliver more homes.
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