Homes should be affordable for all
Responding to figures showing that 33,490 affordable homes were built during the last Parliamentary term, Andy Wightman MSP, Housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP for Lothian, highlighted the need to make all housing affordable.
House prices in Scotland increased 61 per cent between 2004 and 2014, while increasing rental costs have seen 210,000 Scots fall into poverty.
Andy Wightman MSP said:
"While I welcome the achievement of the Government's target of affordable housebuilding, the wider crisis in housing cannot be ignored. Homes should be affordable for all, and we can see that young people face a double-whammy, struggling more than ever to afford to buy their first home, while enduring ever-increasing rents in the private sector.
"In this new session of Parliament I am determined that we find a new way to help everyone afford a home. We can build more houses, to a higher quality, by paying less for land. Councils should have the power to buy land for housing at ‘existing use value’.
"Greens will keep up the pressure on Ministers to pursue our idea of taxing Scotland’s 11,000 hectares of vacant and derelict land. This would raise millions for housebuilding and encourage development of new affordable homes."
Quarterly Housing Statistics Update (Scottish Government, published today)
Increasing rental costs have seen 210,000 Scots fall into poverty (Scotsman, 16 May)
Average prices and rent levels in Scotland (Shelter Scotland)