Màiri McAllan MSP
Màiri McAllan MSP is Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Housing
In Scotland, we recognise that housing is both a social and economic good, central to eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency, and ensuring high-quality and sustainable public services.
We cannot eradicate child poverty if we have children living in poor and substandard housing conditions. The economy cannot grow unless facilitated by housing, and we cannot achieve our objectives on Net Zero without decarbonising our homes and buildings.
On 11 June, I had the honour of being appointed Cabinet Secretary for Housing in Scotland.
Tackling the housing emergency is my top priority – we must deliver sustained progress on these missions, and so improving people’s lives by enabling access to high- quality, affordable homes.
We know the drivers of Scotland’s housing emergency are long-standing, complex, and interconnected. If we are to deal with them, effective work with the full spectrum of partners is needed.
In the past year, we have established a strong collaborative approach with a range of key partners, spanning national and local government, housing representative bodies, developers, investors, third sector organisations, and tenant groups. Together, we’re working locally and nationally to tackle the housing emergency.
I intend to build on the activist approach taken by this Government to date. Tackling homelessness, and particularly the number of children living in temporary accommodation, is my biggest concern.
While our action has helped around 2700 households with children into affordable housing in the year to end December 2024, and our most recent statistics show 20 councils have reduced the number of children in temporary accommodation, I am determined we go further.
We have a strong track record in delivering affordable housing in Scotland, with the latest statistics showing that from 2007 up to March 2025, more than 139,000 affordable homes have been delivered, with 99,000 of those for social rent.
We are investing £768 million in affordable housing in 2025-26, the majority of which will be for social rent and will to focus on the area’s most in need.
We have adopted a targeted approach to our support and investment activity. In April 2024, we launched an £80 million fund over two years to support acquisitions of existing properties and help bring void homes back into use.
With 80 per cent directed to the five local authorities facing the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures, this is already making a difference – Edinburgh Council’s management information shows void levels have been cut by over 50 per cent since June 2023.
The Scottish Government has been significantly stepping up activity to leverage private investment in key infrastructure, including housing, in Scotland.
There has been intensive engagement with investors, including through the work of our Housing Investment Taskforce.
Like us, they recognise the centrality of both public and private investment in our economy, leveraging investment, taking an entrepreneurial approach, and unlocking improvements to enhance the delivery of housing.
We are now focused on long-term plans for implementing the taskforce recommendations to unlock new investment opportunities across all tenures.
Legislative reform will also have an important role. New prevention duties, currently progressing through Parliament in the Housing (Scotland) Bill, are seen by many as a game- changer.
We have complemented this with an additional £4 million in our Ending Homelessness Together budget for 2025/26 to help local authorities, frontline services, and relevant partners to prepare for the new prevention measures and support to help them into responding to the housing emergency by preventing homelessness before it occurs.
Another activity already driving real change for the people of Scotland is the investment of £768 million this year to support the delivery of over 8,000 homes for social rent, mid-market rent, and low cost ownership.
We have also announced £2 million to increase the scale and pace of privately owned homes being returned to use. Other activities already driving real change for the people of Scotland include: investing £768 million this year to support the delivery of over 8,000 homes for social rent, mid-market rent and low cost ownership.
We have also announced £4 million in homelessness prevention funding and £2 million to increase the scale and pace of privately owned homes being returned to use.
The planning system has a crucial role in new homes being built, and it must not be an inhibitor. Strong foundations are now in place, with recent legislative and policy reform, namely, National Planning Framework 4. We are now focusing on delivery, with a package of measures that will accelerate support for housing.
The package includes working to overcome barriers to housing sites stalling, for reasons such as flooding, education, transport, and viability.
We are also brokering solutions at site level. A National Planning Hub is now providing additional capacity to authorities to speed up decision- making.
We are making the process more efficient, including streamlining compulsory purchase and implementing Masterplan Consent Areas, a mechanism that aligns different consents upfront.
The sustained pressures and challenges facing the housing sector in Scotland are undoubtedly being felt across all four nations of the UK.
However, we acknowledge the challenge and do not shrink from it. We have shown that we can make a positive difference for Scotland’s people.
I am determined to emphasise our innovative, interventionist approach to working with partners across the housing sector to tackle the emergency head-on we must start at the frontline of the challenge and work from there.
