The Scottish Government has been urged to rethink its policies for tackling the housing crisis after new figures revealed a drop in the amount of social housing completions.

The latest Quartlery Housing Statistics for Scotland reveal between July and September last year there were 755 social houses complete, down from 16% during the same period in 2016.

Overall, the total number of the year year to end September 2017 was 3,560, a 7% decrease from the 3,846 social sector completions in the previous year.

And despite private new build starts bring up 6%, local authority new starts have dropped 29%.

Housing spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, Andy Wightman, said the statistics show the Government needs a "serious rethink" of its policies towards the housing issue.


"We are far from addressing the housing crisis, especially with the total number of affordable housing supply completions down 8 per cent on the previous year," he said.

"Undoubtedly our housing system is based on an ineffective model that does not address housing need in areas where there is a chronic shortage of homes.

"The current drive towards private home ownership led by the volume house building industry and assisted by the Scottish Government's Help to Buy scheme only benefits the shareholders of these companies and does very little to facilitate genuinely affordable accommodation for individuals and families throughout Scotland.

"We need a serious rethink of government policy, giving local councils the kind of powers taken for granted in other European countries - powers to acquire land at existing use value rather than developers' inflated value, powers to tax vacant and derelict land, and a Homes First policy that gives councils to power to regulate the short-term lets that are removing badly-needed long-term family homes from the market."

(LM)