And the latest analysis of the publicly funded scheme paints and even grimmer picture – showing that starts are running at a third of what is needed to meeting Scottish Government targets.
The professional standards body, Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland (CIHS) said the trends were “the consequence of years of underinvestment in Scotland’s social housing stock, underinvestment that has helped create the conditions for Scotland’s housing emergency and a situation where more than 10,000 children are living in temporary accommodation”.
It comes a matter of weeks after Scottish ministers pledged it was still seeking to meet its affordable homes targets and was pledging billions over the next four years.
In the three months from April to June the number of affordable home starts have dipped to just 927 – nearly half the number of the previous quarter.
That’s a drop to 309 homes per month, down from an already weak 452 monthly rate last year – and just a third of what is required to meet its affordable homes pledge.
The Scottish Government is now facing a new wave of criticism over its faltering flagship promise to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 .
Having already fallen behind, to fulfil on its promise by 2032, it was estimated last month that it would have to deliver at a rate of 1005-a-month from now on to meet that pledge.
But that is over three times more than was being approved in the latest three month period.
Last month, Scottish ministers pledged up to £4.9 billion over the next four years to t ackle the nation’s housing emergency with the delivery of 36,000 affordable homes.
Housing secretary Màiri McAllan said the funding could provide “up to 24,000 children with a warm, safe home” as part of the government’s new emergency housing action plan.
And Callum Chomczuk, the national director of the CIH Scotland said: “The government’s announcement for an investment of £4.9bn over the next four years is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. If we want to truly end the housing emergency we need to start by funding and building the social homes that Scotland needs today.”
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The affordable homes programme was officially launched in 2007 by the Scottish Government aimed at providing homes for social rent, mid-market rent, and low-cost home ownership across the country.
The Scottish Government said that “making sure everyone has a safe, warm and affordable home is central to this Government’s drive for a fairer and more prosperous Scotland”.
The latest tracking of new builds comes as experts warned last month that affordable housing supply must more than triple each year to meet demand.
Màiri McAllan produced an action plan 16 months after the housing emergency declaration.
Campaigners branded the latest expert analysis “alarming”, with researchers calculating Scotland needs 15,693 affordable homes annually from 2026 to 2031 – over three times the number begun in 2024/25.
The downward trend comes despite the Scottish Government facing criticism for its response to the emergency and campaigners warning that urgent investment on a far larger scale is needed to keep pace with rising homelessness.
Housing campaign group Living Rent said the analysis “highlighted a government that is completely oblivious when it comes to building affordable housing”.
“Everyone in Scotland agrees that we need more homes and yet this government seems completely unable to make it happen. What is the point of declaring a housing emergency or setting targets if they completely fail to back it up with action and homes built.”
And the Scottish Tenants Organisation said the latest record of affordable home starts was “deplorable” and called on the housing secretary to front-load some £2bn of the money promised to start building thousands of new warm and secure affordable homes.
“This shows that the housing emergency is spiralling out of control so much that there will soon be no way back unless action is taken now,” they said.
It comes against a background of Scotland’s homelessness crisis is deepening with 17,240 households in temporary council-funded accommodation as of March 2025 — a 6% rise in a year.
The number of households officially assessed as homeless is now the highest since 2012. More than 10,000 children are living in temporary housing, a slight increase on last year’s total.
The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations has raised alarm that the number of social homes started in Scotland has fallen to the lowest levels since records began in the mid-1990s.
The number of homes built by housing associations in the year to June 2025 plummeted by over 30% as the social sector started fewer homes than at any point since 1997.
SFHA, who represent Scotland’s housing associations and co-operatives, said it was a “worrying trend” that underlines the huge scale of the country’s housing emergency.
Barbara Welsh, chairman of Living Rent said: “We all deserve the security and safety that comes with having a stable, affordable home. Building more social and council housing should be the absolute priority alongside measures to bring down the price of rents.”
And Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the STO added: “The time is past for sound bites and spin. The numbers are far worse that we thought. This is bottom of the barrel and is just depressing after all that has been said. We need action now.”
The First Minister reinstated the near £200 million lost to the provision of affordable homes in the 2024/25 budget by investing £768m for 2025/26 – although it remained £11m less than was allocated in 2021/22.
The Herald’s seven-point charter for change to help end Scotland’s housing emergency, launched last July, was credited by some for sparking the change of heart on cuts. It included a call to cut the number of children living in temporary accommodation and a significant increase in the building of affordable homes.
Some 13 of Scotland’s thirty-two local authorities, and the Scottish Parliament, have declared a housing emergency, while the Scottish Government declared an emergency in May last year.
Housing secretary Màiri McAllan said that thousands of families have been provided with a warm, safe and affordable home, but accepted that “demand is outstripping supply” and that there were “challenges that the cost of living, inflation and Brexit have placed on the housing sector” with construction inflation having reached an “incredible’ 24% in recent years.
Housing secretary Màiri McAllan said that thousands of families have been provided with a warm, safe and affordable home, but accepted that “demand is outstripping supply” and that there were “challenges that the cost of living, inflation and Brexit have placed on the housing sector” with construction inflation having reached an “incredible’ 24% in recent years.
She said that she was “committed” to turning things around adding: “Social housing is a key cornerstone in our efforts to tackle the housing emergency and achieve our goal of eradicating child poverty. “I am once again calling on everyone in the public and private sector to urgently pull together and work with us to ensure that everyone in Scotland has a place they can call home.” Sent from Outlook for Android
She added that she was “committed” to turning things around adding: “Social housing is a key cornerstone in our efforts to tackle the housing emergency and achieve our goal of eradicating child poverty.
“I am once again calling on everyone in the public and private sector to urgently pull together and work with us to ensure that everyone in Scotland has a place they can call home.”
