Ambitious Housebuilding Programme for Scotland

As an amendment to motion S4M-14859 in the name of Margaret Burgess (Ambitious Housebuilding Programme for Scotland), leave out from first "welcomes" to end and insert “notes that the SNP pledged in its 2011 election manifesto to 'build over 6,000 new socially-rented houses each year', which would be a total of 30,000 over the course of the current parliamentary session; is deeply disappointed that it is set to build only 20,000 socially-rented homes by March 2016; regrets that the Scottish Ministers have repeatedly refused to acknowledge that their decision to switch to a less ambitious policy of 30,000 affordable homes has had a negative impact on the ability of thousands of families to obtain permanent, safe and warm accommodation at a time when approximately 29,000 people across Scotland are homeless and 150,000 households are on council housing waiting lists, and believes that this significant policy change, and the resultant social housing shortfall, fails to help address the housing crisis in Scotland and raises serious doubts about the Scottish Government’s commitment to its future housing promises.”