More than £4million of ring-fenced funding for badly-needed affordable housing in Aberdeen is lying untouched in council cash reserves, it has emerged.
The local authority’s draft statement of accounts for 2013/14 show the money, which can only go towards building low cost homes, has yet to be used.
The Labour-led administration has committed to building 2,000 properties, but opposition councillors have questioned why there has not been more “urgent” action, given the ongoing housing crisis in the city.
Aberdeen this week soared to number five in the most expensive places to buy a home in the whole of the UK. There has also been a sharp increase in families requiring temporary accommodation.
The council’s audit and risk convener, SNP councillor Callum McCaig, claims the ruling coalition is dragging its heels.
He said: “It is well documented that Aberdeen is in the teeth of a housing crisis where house prices are rising far beyond the means of many ordinary Aberdonians.
“The key to solving this crisis is to invest more in affordable housing, and to be sitting on more than £4million that can only be used for affordable housing is really quite unacceptable.
“There are two options, we can either use it to build houses ourselves or we could engage with housing associations to see if they can make that go a bit further by using some of their own reserves. What we need is an urgent decision on this, that money has been sitting there for over a year without being used.”
The draft accounts show a figure of £4.245million in 2014, with a balance of £2.921million from the previous year. The income was generated through a reduction in discounts for homes which are lying empty long-term.
Finance, police and resources convener, Labour’s Willie Young, said the administration’s strategic infrastructure plan (SIP) would address the housing issues.
He said: “That money is going to be spent, we have said that we will deliver 2,000 houses, but there is no magic wand to wave and all of a sudden, homes will appear.
“We are having to identify sites, and that is all part of our strategic infrastructure plan.
“We will bring forward the required housing on a proper basis, rather than the piecemeal approach that we saw in the past, there will be a rolling programme that will continue beyond 2017.
“It is not a question of moving faster or slower, it is about making sure we deliver what we say we are going to deliver – something which people have criticised this council for failing to do in the past.”