A panel based report for Zoopla this week found only 24% of respondents agreeing that political parties pay a lot of attention to housing. 80% of respondents would rather own or buy than rent, and 60% agree that we are not building enough to keep up with what is needed. This follows on from a recent YouGov survey which ranked housing behind only the economy and health in priorities for voters in Scotland.

Looking at the manifestos of the main political parties in Scotland ahead of the upcoming General Election, there is a common acknowledgement that Scotland is in the midst of a housing emergency; a fact which was acknowledged by Paul McLennan in a statement to Parliament last week . The parties do have some commonality of approach in addressing the housing emergency, with all acknowledging that we need to be building more affordable housing and restoring the affordable housing supply programme, albeit with different approaches as to how the capital investment to do that is procured.

Taking a look at each of the manifestos, the main commitments can be summarised as follows:

Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party – 16 mentions of housing

  • increase the threshold for LBTT for first time buyers to £250,000, saving up to £2,100
  • restore affordable housing supply programme, when financially viable to do so
  • pilot a rent-to-own model where the Government gives renters back one quarter of rent to help purchase a property that they live in
  • set up a Scottish housing development agency to increase builds of all types, especially affordable housing, with a focus on building on brownfield sites or those where it is clear that there is community consent and increase the size of the Rural Housing Fund to deliver incentives to encourage more house building

Scottish Green Party – 7 mentions of housing

  • build a fair, green and prosperous society in Scotland
  • new national planning framework to put nature and climate at the heart of the planning system
  • invest capacity in the drainage and sewerage system

Scottish Labour Party – 18 mentions of housing

  • prioritise development of suitable brownfield land, and blocking ugly, disused greybelt land for housing
  • private investment and development to tackle the shortage of affordable housing and an increased supply of affordable housing in partnership with local authorities
  • improve levels of home ownership across the UK with a new mortgage guarantee to support first time buyers who struggle with large deposits and to lower mortgage costs
  • reform rules so as to make mortgages available to those low-income first-time buyers, including the re-launch of the Scottish mortgage to shared equity scheme

Scottish Liberal Democrats– 14 mentions of housing

  • working with businesses and communities to develop a national housing plan standing up to the housing emergency, ensuring that more homes are built to give people more homes of their own
  • increasing new houses across the UK to 380,000 per annum, 150,000 of which would be affordable housing, working in partnership with the Scottish Government with community engagement
  • social renting being re-established as a long-term option
  • encourage the Scottish Government to work with businesses, communities and local authorities to develop new programmes for key worker housing to alleviate local shortages

Scottish National Party – 9 mentions of housing

  • devolve housing benefit and local authority housing allowance to expand delivery of social housing to help fund and encourage investment in house building
  • changing approach in fiscal rules to unlock further investment and tackle the £1.3 billion cut to capital investment
  • the SNP say they have built 128,000 affordable homes, 40% more than in England and 70% more per head than in Wales

Reform UK

Reform don't have a separate Scottish manifesto but do acknowledge Britain has a housing crisis and promise to unleash housebuilding, fast-track planning and tax incentives for development of brownfield land.

All of the parties acknowledge that we need to be building more housing and, as housing is devolved in Scotland, there needs to be partnership working across governments to do that. Hopefully by the 2026 Scottish election we will see implementation of these manifesto pledges whichever party is in power and more homes for voters on the electoral roll.

Contributor

Fiona Dromgoole

Legal Director