Inside Housing – News – Scottish business leaders call on government to treat housing as economic infrastructure

“[This] is why this report recommends treating housing as economic infrastructure, measured in completions, not consents.”

It highlights how the country has had a shortfall of more than 110,000 homes since 2008, while nearly 700,000 families are in some form of housing need.

Scotland has not built 25,000 homes per year since 2007. Completions have been trending downwards over the past few years, falling to 17,300 homes last year, of which, 3,611 were for the social sector.

The Scottish government does have a housing target. It is aiming for 36,000 new affordable homes by 2032 – about 7,200 per year – though last month academics forecast that only a fifth of this target will be reached.

In May, it consulted on a 10-year strategy for how it will plan and deliver infrastructure. Housing is included, but classified as social infrastructure – the same category as schools, hospitals and parks – rather than economic infrastructure, such as roads, airports and utilities.

The CBI briefing comes just weeks after the David Hume Institute thinktank published its report The Story So Far: Housing Associations and the Scottish Economy, which also called for housing to be treated as economic infrastructure.

The report, commissioned by trade body the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, argued that the economic impact of housing associations is not understood well enough by the government or the sector.

It argued that housing should be considered alongside transport, skills and business investment in appraisals of economic growth, and set out how officials and landlords can measure the sector’s impact.

There have been similar calls for housing to be recognised as infrastructure outside of Scotland. This included a joint bid by housing partnerships in England last year ahead of the Spending Review.

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “Housing is a top priority for this government, and since 2007 we have helped deliver over 146,000 affordable homes, including tens of thousands of new council homes.

“We remain focused on our target of delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70% for social rent and 10% in rural and island areas. 

“We are providing record investment of up to £4.9bn over the next four years to support this work, and our new More Homes Scotland agency will bring simplicity and scale to it, unlocking stalled developments and accelerating delivery across the country.

“We are also reforming the planning system to speed up developments and get families into homes faster, working with local and regional partners to ensure the right mix of housing in the right areas to support new jobs and investment.”