Spend every penny of increased cash on affordable housing, charity urges
Scottish ministers have been urged to fully pass on a funding increase caused by a boost in housing spend by the UK Government.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday £39 billion would be spent over the next decade on housing.
The cash will result in an increase in funding for Scotland, though the Treasury has as yet been unable to say how much extra cash will come north of the border.
The announcement comes as the Scottish Government has been dealing with a housing emergency in the country for more than a year and as Mairi McAllan was appointed Housing Secretary on Wednesday.
Shelter Scotland – a key housing charity north of the border – has urged ministers to ensure every penny provided to the Scottish Government as a result of the boost goes towards affordable homes.
'The UK Government has finally recognised the importance of social housing and placed it at the heart of the Chancellor's plans,' the charity's director, Alison Watson, said.
'If additional funding is made available, only the Scottish Government can decide how it is allocated. But if the First Minister is serious about tackling the housing emergency and ending child poverty, housing must be a priority.
'We demand that any consequentials arising from this investment in housing in England are passed directly to Scotland's affordable housing supply programme.
'This is already the case with NHS spending – housing should be no different. After all, home is everything.
'We know that building more social homes is the only way to tackle the housing emergency.
'It is the only way we can move the 10,360 children currently in temporary accommodation into secure, permanent homes.'
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'As part of his reshuffle, the First Minister has put tackling the housing emergency at the heart of his Cabinet by appointing Mairi McAllan as Cabinet Secretary for Housing.
'This financial year, we have increased the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget by £200 million to £768 million, including £40m targeted towards acquisitions to support the local authorities with the most sustained homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures.
'The full implications of the UK spending review, which outlined spending on housing in the next 10 years, are still being considered.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Trump says he will move aggressively to undo nationwide blocks on his agenda
An emboldened Trump administration plans to move aggressively to challenge blocks on the president's top priorities, a White House official said, following a major Supreme Court ruling that limits the power of federal judges to issue nationwide injunctions. Government attorneys will press judges to pare back the dozens of sweeping rulings thwarting the president's agenda 'as soon as possible,' said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Senate GOP adds SNAP waivers for Alaska, Hawaii in new megabill text
Senate Republicans have included compromises on key Medicaid and tax issues in updated text for their sweeping domestic policy bill. In an effort to placate GOP moderates on the fence on the legislation, Senate Republicans are planning to provide a $25 billion stabilization fund for rural hospitals over five years. It's a significant bump up from the $15 billion offer Senate Republican leadership had made to a group of Medicaid moderates, who have balked at the steep cuts to the health program contained in the marque legislation. Senate Republicans would also delay planned cuts to provider taxes that fund state obligations to Medicaid. The changes would still incrementally lower the allowable provider tax in Medicaid expansion states from 6 percent down to 3.5 percent. But the drawdown would begin in 2028, one year later than planned — in a nod to concerns from senators like Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who warned this week that resulting cuts to Medicaid could have disastrous electoral consequences in the midterms. The changes come as Senate Republicans are racing ahead with plans to hold a vote on their legislation Saturday. President Donald Trump still wants the bill on his desk by July 4, though Republicans, as of Friday evening, did not have the votes to start debate . The language also reflects changes to the state and local tax deduction sought by blue state House Republicans. The New York, New Jersey and California Republicans have been in prolonged negotiations with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a boost to the deduction, which Senate Republicans universally want lowered. The new Senate text keeps House Republicans' plan to increase the deduction from $10,000 to $40,000, but it would snap back to current levels after 2029. The new language likely shaves off at least $100 billion from the approximately $350 billion price tag of the House plan. It's still unclear, though, if the compromise would get all of the hardcore SALT Republicans to 'yes.' In a Friday lunch with Senate Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he still had one holdout on the SALT deal -— a likely reference to Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who indicated on Friday that, if there had been a deal, he was not part of it. The text for the Finance committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy and Medicaid, could still see major changes. That's because the language still hasn't been fully updated to reflect rulings from the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, on whether the contained provisions comply with strict budget rules. The tax panel had their final meetings with MacDonough Friday night, but it's unclear how she would weigh in, if at all, on tax provisions enacted under a novel accounting tactic called 'current policy baseline. That tactic takes the unprecedented step of zeroing out trillions of tax cut extensions. Senate Republicans are relying on it to make a slew of provisions, from individual to business tax cuts, permanent. David Lim contributed to this report.
Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
Senate Republicans remove pension overhaul provisions from megabill text
Senate Republicans have included compromises on key Medicaid and tax issues in updated text for their sweeping domestic policy bill. In an effort to placate GOP moderates on the fence on the legislation, Senate Republicans are planning to provide a $25 billion stabilization fund for rural hospitals over five years. It's a significant bump up from the $15 billion offer Senate Republican leadership had made to a group of Medicaid moderates, who have balked at the steep cuts to the health program contained in the marque legislation. Senate Republicans would also delay planned cuts to provider taxes that fund state obligations to Medicaid. The changes would still incrementally lower the allowable provider tax in Medicaid expansion states from 6 percent down to 3.5 percent. But the drawdown would begin in 2028, one year later than planned — in a nod to concerns from senators like Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who warned this week that resulting cuts to Medicaid could have disastrous electoral consequences in the midterms. The changes come as Senate Republicans are racing ahead with plans to hold a vote on their legislation Saturday. President Donald Trump still wants the bill on his desk by July 4, though Republicans, as of Friday evening, did not have the votes to start debate . The language also reflects changes to the state and local tax deduction sought by blue state House Republicans. The New York, New Jersey and California Republicans have been in prolonged negotiations with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over a boost to the deduction, which Senate Republicans universally want lowered. The new Senate text keeps House Republicans' plan to increase the deduction from $10,000 to $40,000, but it would snap back to current levels after 2029. The new language likely shaves off at least $100 billion from the approximately $350 billion price tag of the House plan. It's still unclear, though, if the compromise would get all of the hardcore SALT Republicans to 'yes.' In a Friday lunch with Senate Republicans, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he still had one holdout on the SALT deal -— a likely reference to Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who indicated on Friday that, if there had been a deal, he was not part of it. The text for the Finance committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy and Medicaid, could still see major changes. That's because the language still hasn't been fully updated to reflect rulings from the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, on whether the contained provisions comply with strict budget rules. The tax panel had their final meetings with MacDonough Friday night, but it's unclear how she would weigh in, if at all, on tax provisions enacted under a novel accounting tactic called 'current policy baseline. That tactic takes the unprecedented step of zeroing out trillions of tax cut extensions. Senate Republicans are relying on it to make a slew of provisions, from individual to business tax cuts, permanent. David Lim contributed to this report.
