A Scottish parliamentary committee has called for an action plan to tackle the country’s “predictable and preventable” housing emergency, with the property industry also saying rent controls ‘are not the answer’.

The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee says a plan with clear milestones and outcomes would ensure progress towards ending the crisis can be properly assessed.

Its Housing Inquiry Report also urges the Scottish Government to clarify whether extra funding for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme means it will meet its target of providing 110,000 affordable homes by 2030.

Committee convener Ariane Burgess MSP says during the inquiry, it heard that the housing emergency was decades in the making and was both predictable and preventable.

“The Scottish government must work with the wider housing sector to take urgent collective action to address the emergency and ensure all its departments and policies are having a measurable, clear and positive impact,” she adds.

Affordable homes

Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville insists the government has delivered 136,000 affordable homes, with 97,000 of those for social rent, between 2007 and the end of December 2024.

She says: “We are also working to identify and turn around empty private and social homes and encouraging more funding streams into the sector through our housing investment taskforce.

“We know there is more to do which is why we have increased the affordable housing budget for this financial year by £200 million to £768 million. In the longer term we will also introduce homelessness prevention measures and a system of long-term rent controls in our Housing Bill.”

Propertymark has welcomed calls for an action plan, but Timothy Douglas (pictured), its head of policy and campaigns, believes that instead of focusing solely on rent control through the Housing Bill, the government should concentrate on pro-growth policies that will make housing more affordable.

“These include cutting the astronomical 8% surcharge for buy-to-let homes under Land and Buildings Transactions Tax, providing grants to support the private rented sector to ensure properties are more energy efficient, and constructing additional social housing,” adds Douglas.