The number of starts on the build of affordable homes to deal with the nation's housing emergency has dropped to the lowest for nearly ten years.

Some 6755 new homes were begun in 2023/24 nearly half the number that were started in 2019/20 before the pandemic when 12,039 were on the go.

It is the lowest number of starts since 2014/15 when 6637 affordable homes were begun and comes amidst huge cuts to Scottish Government budget for affordable homes.

The new official analysis further shows that the number of all new housebuilding starts is at the lowest since 2014/15 with 16,404 begun in the last financial year.

That's 9,900 (37.6%) fewer than the peak of the last 17 years - in 2007/08.

This is set against the Scottish Government declaring a housing emergency at the end of last year with the number of open homelessness applications in Scotland soaring by 30% since the pandemic began.

Eight local authorities have now declared a symbolic housing emergency - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Argyll and Bute, Fife, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and the Scottish Borders, all citing housing shortages.

Meanwhile some 6,981 homes were given the nod for grant funding in 2023/24, - the second lowest since 2014/14, up by 9% (585) on the previous year.

The approvals also are nearly half the number of 2019/20 when 12,880 were given the nod.

(Image: .)

In 2019/20, Glasgow City Council alone was told that the city had a budget of over £104m - the highest-ever figure - for its 2019/20 Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) which it said would help deliver over 3,500 affordable homes over two years.

And the number of affordable homes being completed has begun to decline, as feared by housing campaigners as housing starts have historically been dropping.

Completions totalled 9,514 in 2023/24 - down 9% on the previous year after hitting a 15-year peak the previous year.

It comes as the Scottish Government seek to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which 70% were to be for social rent and 10% for rural and island communities.

The Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) called for urgent action on housing emergency saying the Scottish Government risks presiding over a collapse in housebuilding.

According to the latest Scottish Government figures, there were 3,378 homes completed by housing associations in 2023-24 which represents a 33% drop from the previous year’s total of 5,016 homes.  

Figures also showed that the number of homes started and completed in 2023-24 were down in every sector including local authorities and the private sector.  

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) has warned that the freefall in housebuilding applies to the period before the Scottish Government’s cut to affordable housing has taken effect, so it is likely that worse is to come.  

SFHA said it was "yet another wake-up call to the Scottish Government about the extent of the housing emergency and the immediate challenges we face in delivering affordable rented housing.".

“Our housing associations are key to delivering the warm, high quality, affordable homes which will end the housing emergency, but successive Scottish Government cuts are threatening their ability to deliver," it said.

The Scottish Tenants Organisation said that the number of starts on new affordable homes was "completely unacceptable.".

"The Scottish Government is responsible for this scandal," they said.

"Add to that the fact that the same Scottish Government has cut the affordable housing supply programme shows that it is time for the housing minister to resign."

Last week the Scottish Government offered no hope of urgent new money for affordable homes despite finally issuing a national housing emergency.

The housing minister Paul McLennan came under fire for an action plan to try and resolve Scotland's housing and homelessness emergency which put no money on the table despite massive cuts to the budget.

(Image: NQ)

He accepted that there was a general priority to increase housing supply and tackle homelessness but came under fire for not offering hope of even reversing huge cuts to the affordable housing budget.

It fell short of any commitment to extra money after professional standards body the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) said they needed to commit hundreds of millions of pounds extra each year on providing affordable housing to resolve the emergency finally announced by the Scottish Government.

The Herald revealed a year ago how professional standards body CIH had raised concerns over cuts to the budget and warned progress on homelessness is at risk without a funding commitment over rapid rehousing in permanent homes rather than in temporary accommodation.

In the wake of the Scottish Government making a symbolic housing emergency declaration in mid-May, the key housing professionals group had said that while it is a start, it is not enough as a key Scottish Government funding bid to end the crisis lost more than £300m over the past two years alone.

Callum Chomczuk, national director of CIH Scotland said that even reversing the cuts in the affordable homes budget will not be enough to solve the crisis and deliver a key Scottish Government target to deliver 110,000 social and affordable homes by 2032.

The housing emergency declaration was made by social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville a month ago during a Labour-led debate at Holyrood and ministers have cited UK government austerity, inflation labour shortages linked to Brexit and a freeze to local housing allowance rates for the situation.

UK ministers said that the Scottish government receives about 25% more funding from Whitehall than other parts of the UK.

The SNP previously voted against a Labour motion declaring a housing emergency in November.

By declaring the emergency, the Scottish government was said to be formally recognising the housing problem but there are no practical effects that happen as a result.

But First Minister John Swinney warned: “We have to recognise that the government does not have a limitless amount of money and we can’t invest everything if our capital budget is being reduced by the UK government.”

The Scottish Government's affordable homes budget has taken a cumulative hit of over £300m over the past two years - based against the 2022/23 allocation of £831.445m - despite the pledge by outgoing First Minister Humza Yousaf of a £80m uplift for affordable housing over the next two years.

Housing campaigners have been staggered by a £196.08m (26%) cut to the budget in the past year alone, without taking into account inflation, with the spending plans for 2024/25 set at £555.862m before the extra money promised by the First Minister.

If the budget had kept up with inflation in 2024/25, the spending plans would have been at £985.25m.

Without taking into account inflation, the shortfall against 2022/23 is at £315.08m.

When inflation has been taken into account, instead of getting £2.723bn over the three years - the affordable homes budget is at £2.179bn.

The affordable homes plan set out by Nicola Sturgeon in a Programme for Government in 2021 aimed to "build on our investment in housing".

Sean Clerkin, Scottish Tenants Organisation campaign co-ordinator added: "We need a housing revolution and that can only start with the housing p0rtfolio becoming a cabinet post in the Scottish Government with a senior politician at the helm with a detailed emergency housing action plan spending hundreds of millions of pounds to reverse the cut to the housing budget over the last two years and in fact expanding  that budget to build tens of thousands of new social rented homes and retrofit thousands of empty homes into decent quality homes for homeless people in Scotland.

"Only through the reprioritisation of housing in Scotland to the top of the policy agenda can any real progress be made."

Housing minister Paul McLennan said: “Since 2007, Scotland has delivered more than 131,000 affordable homes, with more than 93,000 of those being for social rent. We will continue to build on that record with almost £600 million of investment in the Affordable Housing Supply programme in 2024-25.

“I recently outlined the Scottish Government’s plan to tackle the housing emergency with three key pillars forming part of our approach: more high quality, permanent homes, the right homes in the right places and a permanent home for everyone.

“While we remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, our capital block grant is being reduced by nearly 10%, a loss of more than £1.3 billion by 2027-28. Likewise, our Financial Transactions budget – key to delivering affordable housing – has been cut by 62%.”