Councils are to share more than £400 million of funding next year to provide thousands of affordable homes across Scotland.
Local authorities have been allocated £406 million in grant subsidy as part of the Scottish Government’s £572 million investment in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP).
The remaining £166 million will be managed centrally, with £80 million already announced to help up to 2,000 first-time buyers under the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme.
The rest will go to other projects that promote innovation, greener homes and the Home Owners’ Support Fund, which helps home owners who are having difficulty in paying their mortgage.
The overall funding will provide between 8,000 and 9,000 affordable homes – part of the Government’s pledge to deliver 50,000 homes by 2021.
Housing minister Margaret Burgess said: “Councils and registered social landlords are crucial to delivering the ambitious target of at least 50,000 affordable homes across Scotland over the lifetime of the next Parliament.
“This funding boost, together with our recent increase to housing subsidies, demonstrates our commitment to helping them achieve it.”
She added: “It is estimated that the 50,000 Affordable Housing Supply Programme will support approximately 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs a year in the construction and related industries in Scotland over the next five years.
“This Government is determined to increase the pace and scale of development to deliver more homes across all tenures. We have listened to our partners and are putting in place measures to support the increase in the supply of homes with our More Homes Scotland approach.”