Relatively bright future declared by social housing providers

THE future looks relatively rosy, according to providers of social-rent housing, with the sector in general anticipating “significant investment in new and existing homes, with plans to develop more than 30,000 new homes and invest £1.7 billion in existing homes over the next five years”.

The forecast – including a sector-wide average five per cent growth per year – has been published by the Scottish Housing Regulator (here), based on returns from the likes of housing associations submitted in May.

Says the SHR, here: “We collect five-year financial projections from all RSLs annually. The returns set out the financial projections from RSLs business plans across a five-year reporting period. They incorporate the main financial assumptions applied by each RSL along with the key financial statements plus additional details on development and decarbonisation plans.”

But the regulator warns that, since May, several factors have emerged which threaten to dampen expectations, such as Scottish Government action to freeze rents and “increasing requirements to address the quality of homes, including on energy efficiency and decarbonisation”.

Picture credit: Place Design Scotland