Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2022-2026 - annex 5: impact of policies on child poverty

Affordable Homes

Increase the supply of affordable housing and further strengthen housing planning process with a strong focus on housing needs by size and location to ensure that larger family homes are delivered where they are required.

• Costs of living

Enhanced life chances (e.g. health, wellbeing, capabilities, longer term goals)

Potential size of impact

The Scottish Government has a clear commitment to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, of which at least 70% will be available for social rent and 10% will be in our remote, rural and island communities. Around a third of affordable housing supply households will have children.

Type of impact

Increasing the availability of affordable housing with rents lower than market rent, particularly in the social sector, can help decrease the amount of income spent on housing. For those households who receive housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit (who constitute between a quarter and a third of all households in the private rented sector), the benefit of lower rents may be offset by lower benefit income. They will still benefit to some extent from lower rents unless all of their private rents had been covered by their housing entitlement. We will also increase the supply of affordable homes for larger households, where these are required, as well as homes that have been delivered to Housing for Varying Needs standards.

Certainty of impact

Confident of positive impact where families obtain social housing.

Priority families targeted by policy:

• Lone parents
• 3+ children
• Disabled
• Minority ethnic
• Baby < 1
• Mothers aged <25

All low income households. Not specifically targeted at priority family groups, however, there will be a strong focus on housing needs by size and location to ensure that larger family homes are delivered where they are required.

Tracking progress

For the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, we will report on progress with delivering the 110,000 affordable homes target; the estimated number of households with children who have been helped into affordable housing; the number of social/mid-market homes for larger households that have been delivered, and the number of homes that have been delivered to Housing for Varying Needs standards.