Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Minister announces funding boost for affordable housing in north of Scotland

Kevin Stewart
Kevin Stewart

More than £380million is to be invested in affordable housing in the north and north-east between 2018 and 2021.

Housing minister Kevin Stewart announced the funding – which includes £53million for house-building in Aberdeen and £84.5million for Aberdeenshire – as part of a £1.75billion Scottish Government package to stimulate investment in affordable housing.

Aberdeen Central MSP Mr Stewart said the move was designed to help councils and house-builders plan investment and provide certainty on the amount of funding available until 2021.

He said: “We are ensuring Scotland has homes that are high-quality, efficient and affordable.

“Today, we are announcing to local authorities how much money they’ll have to invest in affordable housing until the end of this parliament. It means they can plan these new affordable homes now – with the certainty that the funding will increase year-on-year.

“This is also an important signal to the house-building sector in Scotland and demonstrates our commitment to the industry and the estimated 14,000 jobs our affordable housing supply programme supports each year.”

Sarah Boyack, head of public affairs for the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) welcomed the news, which comes as official figures showed a rise in completions and approvals for housing associations.

She said: “Today’s figures indicate some progress towards increasing Scotland’s supply of much needed affordable housing.

“However, this must be maintained if we are to solve Scotland’s housing crisis.

“The funding of £1.75billion gives our members the certainty that they can plan ahead and contribute towards meeting the challenging target of 50,000 affordable homes.

Moray MSP Richard Lochhead MSP welcomed £24million for his council.

He said: “With a significant housing shortage and long waiting lists locally, this funding is a welcome boost.

“Committing funding until the end of this parliament will help ensure Scotland leads the way in building homes that are high-quality, efficient and affordable, and will strengthen our house-building sector and the estimated 14,000 jobs the affordable housing supply programme supports each year.

“Everyone in Moray, and indeed Scotland, deserves a warm, affordable home and with a huge number of affordable homes approved last year, we are making great progress towards that aim.”