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Really?

At the moment, the big impacts on the social rented sector and local authorities are from high interest rates, which affect their loans, and rampant inflation, which has been exacerbated by the actions of the UK Tory Government.

On the rent freeze, as the member knows well, we are working closely with the sector to establish the key considerations for any cap on rents beyond 31 March next year. There has been no impact on rents in the social sector this year because they were already set, so we are talking about the period from 1 April next year. We have said that we will provide certainty by 14 January at the very latest.

In the meantime, we operate a flexible grant system, which we expect will allow the continued delivery of affordable homes. We are working closely with the sector to help it to address some of the challenges. However, as I said in my initial answer to Kenny Gibson, completions have risen by 17 per cent, compared with the previous year to June 2021. We are still seeing projects come in, and I encourage registered social landlords to continue to submit them.

“Housing to 2040”, our long-term housing strategy, is designed to be agile. We assess progress and make adjustments as needed. Recognising wider market conditions, in August we increased the thresholds for our open market shared equity scheme by an average of 9 per cent, to support more first-time buyers and priority groups into home ownership. We also operate a flexible grant system, which can take account of increased costs to partners when they are purchasing properties on the open market for affordable use. The economic chaos of recent months that was caused by the UK Government has, of course, not helped.

We want everyone to have the stability of a settled home that meets their needs and to ensure that the time that is spent in temporary accommodation is as short as possible. Our strong homelessness legislation means that homeless households, including those with children, have a right to temporary accommodation, which provides an important safety net.

However, I have asked an expert group that is chaired by Shelter Scotland and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers for an action plan to reduce the number of people in temporary accommodation, with a strong focus on households with children. The group will produce final recommendations in early 2023.

We already have an expert group—it is chaired by the very Shelter Scotland that the member just mentioned, along with ALACHO—that is looking at Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland, and we should allow it to get on with that work.

In relation to Edinburgh specifically, in the summer, I met the housing conveners for Edinburgh and the other local authorities that are under the most pressure, and I have recently written to the housing conveners in both Edinburgh and Glasgow to follow up on those discussions. I reiterated the ask that they submit proposals that would relieve some of the pressure on temporary accommodation. I have committed to considering all options that are brought forward in order to help with the pressures on temporary accommodation—I have an open door to respond to them, but they need to be brought forward.

Finally, Miles Briggs and the members on the Conservative benches need to recognise that people ending up in temporary accommodation is linked to poverty. People ending up in debt and poverty is, along with the cost of living crisis, a major factor in that situation. We will do what we need to do, but I urge the member to make representations to the United Kingdom Government to support people at this difficult time.

Gillian Martin raises an important issue. The target of 110,000 affordable homes has been really important. It builds on the 113,000 affordable homes that have been delivered since 2007, more than 6,000 of which have been in rural and island communities. However, we recognise that there are particular barriers to delivering affordable housing in rural Scotland, which is why the remote rural and island housing action plan, which will be published in the spring, is so important. It specifically addresses how we can remove those barriers to speed up the process of delivering affordable homes in rural Scotland. I am sure that, when she sees it, Gillian Martin will recognise the importance of that plan.

Yes, of course. I am always open to discussing housing issues that are raised by members and councils. I am happy to arrange that.

It is worth noting that £43.3 million has been made available in this parliamentary session through the affordable housing programme in the Western Isles. I would expect the council to work closely with relevant partners to ensure delivery of the affordable housing that local communities need. My officials are working closely with the council to achieve that. They are meeting in the islands next week, as well as progressing the development of a remote rural and island housing action plan to support housing delivery in rural Scotland. We will get the meeting that the member requests established as soon as we can.

We are aware of the global issues affecting construction, including the war in Ukraine and rising inflation; those effects have been exacerbated by Brexit and the current cost crisis. We are working closely with the construction industry and housing partners to mitigate those effects where possible and achieve our shared goal of delivering more affordable homes for Scotland. That includes operating a flexible grant system that can take account of increased costs. I am heartened that the affordable housing sector continues to show signs of recovery, with completions having risen by 17 per cent, compared with the previous year to June 2021.

Yes. Inflation and the economic chaos that has been caused by the UK Government mean that our annual budget today is worth £1.7 billion less than it was last December. We are facing an enormous strain at the same time as we are focusing on protecting people from the cost of living crisis and mitigating many of the UK Government’s cuts, particularly those that impact child poverty and people on low incomes.

We have urged the UK Government, instead of cutting Scotland’s capital grant, to release additional public spending on infrastructure and to consider other measures to ease those pressures and allow our capital programme to continue at the required pace. I agree with Kenny Gibson that the UK budget would be a good place to start.

I will write to Willie Rennie with further detail, but, in essence, some mid-market rental properties sit in the private residential sector, having been built by the private sector, and some sit in the social rented sector, having been built by RSLs. It depends, but I am happy to write to Willie Rennie with more details, if he would find that helpful.