Edinburgh's Local Housing Strategy
Chapter One - Deliver homes to provide choice and affordability for all
This chapter covers housing affordability; affordable housing tenures; delivering homes; construction costs; partnership working; innovation; land supply; Council void properties and overcrowding.
Our proposed strategic objective is to deliver a supply of homes across affordable tenure types to offer choice and affordability.
Read the high-level actions we propose to take
- The Council, developing RSLs and Scottish Government will continue to work closely together to increase the supply of a range of affordable housing through the AHSP and other routes. (To include partnership working with Scottish Government ‘Housing Investment Taskforce’, ‘Strategic Housing Partnership’ and other housing groups)
- Work with Scottish and UK Governments and local community planning partners to develop large scale housing opportunities*
- Continue to support the development of mid-market rent
- Expand the use of off-site construction to drive efficiency, reduce build times and provide economies of scale. Continue to support and develop the work of the Regional Delivery Alliance in this aim
- Speed up housing delivery by reducing the duration of time taken for a new house to move from approved to Completed*
- Work proactively with the public sector to secure and develop public sector sites when they become available and review the use of statutory consents to release land for house building.
- Seek land opportunities for direct development and partnering with landowners on strategic sites*
- Private developers report they are not able to progress their plans – Explore how to prevent this with Private sector involvement*
- Continue to purchase completed homes ‘off-the-shelf’ and second-hand homes for use as affordable homes and review the Council’s acquisition policy regularly.
- Explore new financial models and alternative income streams to help increase the supply of affordable housing
(to include the Visitor levy and continuing to develop private homes for sale to cross subsidise affordable homes on large sites)
- Request increased AHSP funding from the Scottish Government to cover increased construction costs, and request a review of the proportion of overall AHSP funding allocated to Edinburgh
- Increase the return rate of void Council property to lettable standard and allocate them, bringing a significant number of Council homes back in to use*
- Review how the supply of larger (3+ bedroom) and accessible affordable homes might be increased.
- Review potential to offer incentives for households to downsize when they no longer require larger homes.