Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027

Chapter 10 Housing

Portfolio Responsibilities

The Housing portfolio works to deliver good, safe, secure and warm homes that support Scotland’s national missions to eradicate child poverty, grow the economy and improve wellbeing for individuals and communities across Scotland.

The portfolio is responsible for housing, tackling homelessness, delivering affordable homes, protecting tenants’ rights, ensuring building safety, heating and domestic energy transformation and driving the shift to efficient, low-carbon heating. This budget will support the portfolio to continue to provide affordable homes across Scotland, particularly homes for social rent which will make an important contribution to tackling child poverty and our continuing work to end homelessness whilst also supporting economic growth.

The budget also supports our commitment to Scotland’s climate change targets and tackling fuel poverty. As well as ensuring new homes are fit for the future, with zero emissions heating systems, we will adapt and retrofit existing homes, including targeting support to those in, or at risk of fuel poverty, to reduce their energy bills. We will continue to invest in heat networks across Scotland, leveraging private investment, to deliver new heating infrastructure for both new and existing properties.

We will continue to support the First Minister’s top priority of eradicating child poverty as we take forward work to end the situation of children living in unsuitable accommodation. Having supported the delivery of 141,000 affordable homes since 2007, £926 million in 2026-27 will be invested to continue progress towards our next target of delivering 110,000 by 2032. Over the next four years, we will invest up to £4.9 billion – including a record £4.1 billion of public sector funding – to support delivery of 36,000 affordable homes and our wider all-tenure ambition. We are committed to supporting households currently in temporary housing to find settled homes.

We will bring Awaab’s law into force in the social and private rented sectors starting with damp and mould to ensure tenants’ health and wellbeing is protected by quickly addressing health hazards. Through the Housing (Scotland) Act, we will introduce a suite of tenants’ protections.

We will continue to work with partners on ending homelessness. We will support those in our communities at higher risk of homelessness, including women experiencing domestic abuse. We will provide support for the new statutory homelessness prevention duties and ensure intervention starts as early as possible.

We will continue to fund Scotland’s Cladding Remediation Programme which supports building owners and residents across Scotland to comprehensively address the risks posed by dangerous cladding, and to ensure safety for those affected. We will accelerate mitigation measures where risks to life have been identified and initiate remediation pathways for buildings that have a completed Single Building Assessment.

Housing intended contributions to the National Outcomes

Primary National Outcomes

• Communities
• Human Rights
• Children and Young People
• Poverty
• Economy

Secondary National Outcomes

• Culture
• Health
• International
• Fair Work and Business
• Environment
• Education

Housing

The prior year 2025-26 Budget Comparator figures are based on the latest in-year budget numbers which were revised at the Autumn Budget Revision. The 2024-25 Scottish Budget comparator figures reflect the outturn numbers for that year.

* The AHSP comprises of Capital, Transfer of Management of Development Funding and Financial Transactions and totals £925.87 million in 2026-27.

** 2.1 million of additional funding anticipated in-year from the General Revenue Grant.