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The Scottish Government is engaging with Homes for Scotland and the housebuilding industry to discuss the findings of their recent work on SME housebuilders. Part of this work involves partnership discussions between Homes for Scotland, industry participants and the Minister for Housing and others to consider what actions can best support ongoing delivery from the SME housebuilding sector.

We value the contribution of SME housebuilders who provide homes across Scotland in both urban and rural areas. We will work with industry to consider where targeted action can support this work.

The Scottish Government laid the proposed revised National Outcomes in Parliament for scrutiny on 1 May 2024. These proposals include a new National Outcome for Housing. Parliamentary scrutiny is expected to conclude in late 2024 .

In its response to the Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group recommendations, the Scottish Government committed to working with COSLA, ALACHO and the SFHA to develop national guidance to help maximise the impact of effective stock management and to support good flipping practice.

That engagement has highlighted the range of issues affecting different local authorities, each of which requires a different solution. Flipping of temporary accommodation into permanent homes has been taken forward in many areas, where possible, however, there are issues that limits some areas’ ability to take this practice forward.

In addition to continued engagement with local authorities to support this practice, the Scottish Government will discuss with ALACHO and COSLA what local areas need to support flipping and what they would find helpful from a national perspective, including national guidance if this is seen to be beneficial.

I recently met with Housing Convenors across Scotland to discuss the challenges that have contributed to longer turnaround times for empty council properties, delays in reconnecting energy supplies was one of the key issues raised.

Although energy is a reserved matter, Scottish Ministers imminently intend to send a joint letter with COSLA to individual energy suppliers on the impacts delays in reconnecting utilities is having on void turnaround times. This will be followed by official level engagement with energy suppliers over the summer.

The declaration of a housing emergency asks all partners to play their part, therefore, I hope organisations in the energy sector heed this call to action and respond quickly and satisfactorily to the concerns local authorities have raised.

We will continue to work with local authorities and registered social landlords to help reduce turnaround times for empty homes and voids and will support efforts at a national level where we can to address this problem.

As set out in the Minister for Housing’s statement to Parliament on 20 June, responding to the recently declared housing emergency, the Scottish Government recognise the importance of considering the impact of new regulation on the housing sector.

We have already taken action to reduce such impacts for example by rescheduling work on a new tenure neutral housing standard which we now intend to publish a public consultation on in 2025. We have also heard concerns from local authorities about the impact of introducing homelessness prevention duties at a time when councils are experiencing other pressures, and we are considering this carefully to ensure the implementation schedule balances the intended benefits with deliverability.

As with all new legislation being brought before the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government will be required to undertake a full range of impact assessments, including a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment - where careful consideration on the impact of business and wider investment is examined.

In wider work emerging from the New Deal for Business Group and Investor Panel, the Scottish Government will also bring coherence and focus to how the public sector works to attract investment at scale by convening policy, delivery and regulatory interests across the public sector to create a more ‘investor friendly’ environment and support the delivery of specific, priority investments.

This year's budget is the most challenging since devolution. For that reason, our preference is for any available money to be targeted at areas which are experiencing specific pressures, particularly where there is sustained use of temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government are working with COSLA to develop a targeted approach.

The Scottish Government published our Infrastructure Investment Plan in 2021 which sets out our national infrastructure priorities for Scotland. The Plan recognises the important role that housing plays in developing resilient and sustainable places, supporting economic growth and meeting the diverse economic, social and environmental needs of urban, rural and island areas.

We will continue to work across the Scottish Government and with local and UK Government to respond to the Housing Emergency and to deliver on our target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.

I welcome the work that local authorities already undertake in ensuring the data they share is accurate, allowing offers to homeless households can be made swiftly – but we also recognise that more can be done here to improve the accuracy of data provided. Data published by the Scottish Housing Regulator shows that 60% of registered social landlord lets to homeless households come through section 5 referrals, when a local authority requests that a registered social landlord provides the household with permanent accommodation. However, around 15% of offers to homeless households are declined due to the right information about the household’s needs not being provided. We want that situation to improve.

The Scottish Government produced the Code of Guidance on Homelessness to help guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or are experiencing homelessness. Local authorities must take account of this statutory guidance, which sets out how the legislation and related policies should be implemented, when making an assessment of the hosing support needs of the household. The Code of Guidance states that, to facilitate effective case management, local authorities should establish protocols and procedures for the sharing of information about people making homelessness applications between housing departments, social work, housing support providers and other relevant agencies. The protocols developed should set out the type of information to be shared and the stage at which this should be carried out.

In declaring a housing emergency, the Scottish Government expects action to be taken in response to the issues identified by organisations across the sector, which contributed to this situation. Local authorities have a key part to play in ensuring comprehensive and adequate data is passed to registered social landlords through the referral process to support the transition of a homeless household into a settled home, helping to ensure as little time as possible is spent in temporary accommodation.

We know that registered social landlords are uniquely placed as housing providers to identify and assist people at risk of homelessness, building on existing housing management practice and the delivery of housing support.

There is already good practice happening across the country by social landlords. Their services, such as tenancy sustainment, are already key features of their work with tenants. We want to build on this so there is a consistent, robust and sector wide approach to prevention across Scotland.

We make a significant annual investment in discretionary housing payments (over £90 million in 2024-25) to help people who are struggling with housing costs to remain in their homes. We also have a multi-year fund of £100 million to deliver actions in our homelessness strategy, the Ending Homelessness Together action plan, which has prevention at its heart.

The Scottish Government wants to see a reduction in the number of households with children in temporary accommodation and works closely with local authority partners to ensure their Strategic Housing Investment Plans reflect their identified priorities including high quality homes for larger families where these are required. Homes for larger families can be supported through a variety of routes including new build and acquisitions of existing properties.

We are investing almost £600 million in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme in 2024-25, which includes up to £40 million for acquisitions announced in April this year, and a further £40 million next year. This additional £80 million investment in acquisitions offers another option to secure larger family homes where they are needed and will help reduce the time spent in temporary accommodation, including by children. This £80 million builds on the success of our National Acquisition Programme which has invested more than £83 million in 2023-24 and delivered almost 1,500 affordable homes.