Common Weal

A Scottish think tank has accused the Scottish Government of pursuing housing policies it knows to be ineffective, warning that John Swinney’s proposed Help to Buy scheme for first‑time buyers will inflate prices, waste public money, and deepen the housing crisis rather than alleviate it.

A comprehensive toolkit of policies and actions providing a roadmap towards land reform in Scotland have been outlined in a new report published today by the New Economics Foundation and the Common Weal think tank.

Scotland’s local authorities could build an unlimited number of homes for social rent on a zero-subsidy basis under proposals outlined by the think tank Common Weal.

Homes for Scotland’s view that a focus on affordable and social housing is exacerbating Scotland’s housing crisis and fails to grasp the commercial realities of development is “out of touch with reality” and must be “rejected outright” by the Scottish Government, according to a think-tan