The Scottish Government have published its Housing to 2040 strategy, which sets out the government’s vision for housing over the next 20 years.
Housing to 2040 is split into four sections and the key priorities in the strategy include:
- setting a single set of standards for housing quality and accessibility, no matter whether a home is owned or rented At the moment, the Tolerable Standard, introduced in 1969 and added to periodically since then, sets out minimum requirements for habitation and applies to all homes. However,depending on the tenure of a home, owners and landlords will be working towards different additional quality requirements with separate mechanisms for enforcement.
- delivering 100,000 more affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% of these being for social rent. This target would support about £16 billion in total investment and up to 14,000 jobs a year
- tackling high rents in the private sector and supporting fair, accessible private and social rental sectors through a Rented Sector Strategy and Housing Bill
- decarbonising heating in all homes in line with Scotland’s climate ambitions, ensuring this is done in a fair and just way, including by adapting and retrofitting existing homes
- aiming for all new homes delivered by Registered Social Landlords and local authorities to be zero emissions by 2026
- establishing a new fund to help local authorities bring empty homes back into residential use
- supporting housing development in rural and island areas, helping to prevent depopulation and enabling communities to thrive
- continuing with our updated plan to end homelessness and rough sleeping once and for all
- undertaking a comprehensive audit of our current housing and homelessness legislation to understand how best to realise the right to adequate housing.
