Scotland is in its third year of a national housing emergency. Without urgent action, there is a real danger that this simply becomes the norm.

Whilst we have had positive engagement with government over this period, we still aren’t seeing any tangible outcomes in terms of delivery.

A new housing agency is planned but isn’t due to be fully operational until 2028 and we are yet to learn of the detail behind it in terms of what exactly it will do or what powers it will have. In the meantime, what is the Scottish Government doing to stop the situation from worsening?

Today’s Programme for Government is a crucial opportunity to answer that question.

The frustration of Scotland’s home builders continues to grow because of how difficult it is to build new homes. This is particularly true for small and medium sized businesses. If conditions do not quickly improve, companies may choose to invest elsewhere or step back completely from building homes to concentrate on less risky and more profitable work.

These are not companies looking for special treatment. They are businesses that want to build homes, employ people, invest in communities and contribute to solving Scotland’s housing emergency, but the question they have to keep asking themselves is: does this make financial sense?

One starkly described the situation, saying: “Rural SMEs are fighting for their lives. Every increased regulation diminishes viable site options whilst resulting in increasingly onerous administration and bureaucracy.”

They also highlighted the “blinkered pursuit” of policies leading to “cost beyond the point of sensibility” when the standard of new homes built in Scotland is among the highest in the world.

With the number of SMEs having now fallen to its lowest level in 20 years, such strength of feeling should give our policymakers pause for reflection as capacity to deliver the range and choice of homes that Scotland needs is eroding all the time.

There is an uncomfortable contradiction in all of this.

We need more homes. At the same time, however, the cumulative effect of policy, regulation, planning requirements, infrastructure constraints, consenting delays and challenges around finance means that it is harder than ever for home builders of all tenures to operate.

This is not a debate about whether regulation is inherently good or bad. Rather, it should be about whether regulation is proportionate, coordinated, evidence-based and practical to deliver. New requirements should not make it even harder to provide the homes Scotland desperately needs.

Neither is it a question of lowering standards. We should absolutely aspire to build better homes and places. But higher ambitions must be matched with the support that allows those homes to be delivered.

We are therefore asking the Scottish Government to use the first Programme for Government of the new parliament to lay the foundations to end the housing emergency once and for all. It must rapidly move design of the new housing agency into delivery. It must also ensure a housing system capable of sustaining growth year after year.

This should include:

• pausing all new regulation until there is consistent recovery in starts and completions across all tenures
• introducing an emergency land and planning package
• making the delivery of new homes a central part of public service reform
• using the reform agenda to increase the capacity, consistency and productivity of planning and consenting
• attracting investment and rebuilding the capacity required to deliver more homes

This has to begin with a better understanding of the home building process:

• a development will only proceed if it is financially viable
• planning and consenting regimes determine how quickly it can begin
• access to finance determines whether a business can fund it
• regulation affects its cost and complexity
• business confidence determines whether companies are willing to keep investing

If Scotland is serious about delivering more homes, we need to make it possible - and commercially viable - to build them.