£25m to boost affordable home-building in scotland

Photo: Paolo Trabattoni

A new £25 million fund will provide an estimated 500 new affordable homes to rural areas across Scotland.

The Rural Housing Fund, which was announced this month by the Scottish government, is designed to boost house building and regeneration, increasing the supply of long-term affordable accommodation over the next three years.

The fund is open to a wide range of applicants, including long-established affordable housing providers and community-led organisations and private landowners. In addition to providing support toward the capital costs of housing projects, the fund will offer much needed feasibility support to enable organisations to develop robust plans for their projects.

Mrs Burgess says: "We know building affordable housing in rural areas presents different challenges compared to urban areas which is why we are ensuring this fund is open to rural interests, including community bodies, private landlords and landowners."

Derek Logie, Chief Executive of Rural Housing Scotland, adds: "Affordable rural housing is critical to sustaining and developing our rural communities. The Rural Housing Fund has the potential to offer a huge boost to the delivery of affordable rural housing and we are delighted that the Scottish Government has demonstrated its commitment to rural Scotland with this announcement."

The homes will contribute to the Scottish government's commitment to build 50,000 new homes across Scotland over the next five years, backed by £3bn.