What is the Incentivising New Council House Building Fund?
The aim of the fund is to incentivise local authorities to begin building new homes and is the first such central government support to councils in a generation.
Funds are allocated to maximise the number of additional homes built of sufficient quality, in the right places according to the following principles.
- The council has the ability to manage and maintain the new stock effectively.
- The development is affordable at the available level of grant.
- The new homes are prioritised to contribute to meeting evidenced housing need and 2012 homelessness targets.
- The council can demonstrate that it has well developed plans to ensure delivery of the proposed new housing.
- The number of units that are built is maximised within the resources available, but not at the expense of having to compromise on design quality and quality of place.
Almost £50 million has already been allocated to 22 councils to build 2,297 houses across Scotland. The results of the assessment process were announced in two rounds, in April/June 2009 and December 2009.
A further £30 million was allocated to 22 councils to 'kick-start' the development of over 1,001 homes in the third round on 1 July 2010. The funding for the extra 1,000 council houses will support around 1,200 jobs in the construction industry and 700 more in related trades.
The total Scottish Government funding from the three rounds is almost £80 million and 3,300 homes will be developed across 23 Local Authorities. This will leverage in more than £300 million investment by local authorities.
How are applications considered?
Applications to the fund are considered jointly by COSLA (along with its expert housing advisers) and the Scottish Government against the above principles and related criteria.
Future developments
The Scottish Government, COSLA and other partners are jointly examining how councils can continue to maximise their contribution to the provision of additional affordable housing over the longer term, in a sustainable way. Further details of this work are available in the Investment Reform
This is also mirrored in the Scottish Government's discussion paper ' Housing: Fresh Thinking, New Ideas'. The current system relies on local authorities being capable of borrowing the additional capital and a study has been commissioned to look at the sustainability of this in the long-term. We wish to support the increase in new build levels over future years and this work will examine how this can be facilitated.
Housing Statistics for Scotland
Historic trends in the building of new houses showed peaks in the early 1950s and late 1960s resulting primarily from programmes of post-war reconstruction and slum clearances. From a high point of about 41,000-43,000 completions a year, mainly in the public sector, the level of new build fell during the early 1980s to under 20,000.
Since then, there has been an overall upward trend and construction of new council housing has been increasing over the last three years. Further information can be found on the Housing Statistics for Scotland web pages.