Glasgow approves £674m plan to build more than 6,500 affordable homes in five years

Glasgow City Council has approved a £674 million programme to tackle the city's housing emergency, with plans for more than 6,500 new affordable homes over five years.

The council's Strategic Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) for 2027/28 to 2031/32 also sets out a pipeline that could deliver more than 12,000 new homes in total if more funding becomes available.

Buying homes for social rent

As well as funding brand new affordable homes, the plan includes measures to help housing associations – known as Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) – buy 430 existing homes for social rent.

59 sites with capacity for 12,173 homes

The council's housing team has also looked at how building could be accelerated and scaled up if funding allows. It has identified 59 sites across Glasgow with the potential to deliver 12,173 new homes over the five-year period, along with further opportunities to convert vacant and underused floors in former commercial buildings.

"Glasgow gets things built"

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, depute leader and convener for housing, development and land use, said the council is "doing everything within its power to make a secure home tenancy a reality for as many Glaswegians as we can".

He said Glasgow has built far more affordable homes than comparable cities, adding: "Working in partnership with local housing associations, housebuilders and the wider housing sector we want to be clear to Government that Glasgow gets things built: and if they are able to increase our housing budget, we can build and acquire even more."

The council says the plan follows news last year that Glasgow had built more social and affordable homes than Manchester and Liverpool combined.

Priorities

The SHIP was prepared in response to Glasgow's housing emergency, declared in November 2023. Its priorities include:

• Increasing the supply of affordable family housing
• Reducing homelessness and the number of households in emergency or temporary accommodation
• Helping to reduce the number of children living in poverty
• Preparing for a projected 18.1% rise in the number of people aged 65 and over
• Meeting health and social care needs, including for disabled people, people with complex health needs and young people leaving care

The plan also requires 10% of all new homes in developments of 20 or more units to be wheelchair readily adaptable, and aims to deliver 40 new large family homes – with four or more bedrooms – every year, while increasing the number of three-bedroom homes.

Why it matters

The plan comes days after councillors heard that overcrowding in the city's social housing is getting worse, because families in overcrowded homes fall behind homeless households in the queue. The council leader told that meeting: "There are not enough houses."

The scale of what can be delivered will depend heavily on funding from the Scottish Government's Affordable Housing Supply Programme.