Affordable Housing Policy Guidance consultation

Overview

In 2000, Edinburgh was the first local authority to introduce an Affordable Housing Policy (AHP) in Scotland.  The Council’s AHP sets the parameters for a percentage of land or homes to be affordable, supporting and enabling delivery of new affordable housing in the city.

Currently Edinburgh has higher housing costs than the Scottish average across all tenure types. Rents and property prices in Edinburgh are also higher than average, while the percentage of social rented homes in Edinburgh is lower than average (16%, compared to a Scottish average of 22%).  In addition to this, there are over 5,000 households in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh.

The AHP is a planning policy which requires that new housing sites consisting of 12 or more units should normally provide affordable housing amounting to 35% of the total number of units proposed. The provision should be delivered on site. This is set out in the Council’s published “Affordable Housing Interim Guidance 2024”. The policy requires private housing developers to transfer a proportion of housing land or homes to affordable housing providers or make an equivalent contribution.

Read the 'Affordable Housing Policy Guidance 2025' committee report, which went to the Planning Committee on Wednesday 2 April 2025.

We want to hear your views on the non-statutory elements of the Council’s AHP.  The feedback from this consultation will then be used as part of the updated Affordable Housing Guidance information, which is expected to be presented to Planning Committee in November 2025.

Need a different language or format? 

Please email the Interpretation and Translation Service at its@edinburgh.gov.uk quoting reference 25-0659.