£45m to build new homes in Scotland

Oct 21 2012

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced extra cash for housing and money to help 100,000 vulnerable people as she demanded the Chancellor change tack on the economy.

Ms Sturgeon called on George Osborne to abandon austerity cuts and instead invest in capital infrastructure, saying: "We must build our way out of recession."

To help do that in Scotland she announced £45 million would be spent building 1,200 new homes across Scotland. In addition she revealed the Scottish Government would commit £9 million additional funding to help some of the country's most needy.

That cash, she told the SNP annual conference in Perth, would provide "essential crisis support in these difficult times for 100,000 more of our most vulnerable people". The Deputy First Minister insisted: "The answer to Tory cuts is to control our own resources. Control of our own resources so we can get our economy growing."

With figures this week showing the recession in Scotland had deepened and unemployment rising, Ms Sturgeon claimed the SNP administration was doing everything it could within its current devolved powers to boost the economy. But she said more was needed, telling Mr Osborne: "Our economy needs a capital stimulus and it needs it now."

The Scottish Government has repeatedly urged Westminster to invest more cash in major infrastructure projects.

Ms Sturgeon, also the Infrastructure and Constitution Secretary urged the Chancellor: "Use the autumn budget statement to increase capital spending and accept, once and for all, that we will not cut our way out of this recession. We must build our way out of recession."

Ms Sturgeon said the £45 million for housing, which is being spent this year and next year, would protect up to 800 jobs. The cash will deliver around 1,200 homes, including hundreds of council and housing association properties, but will also provide support for those on low incomes who wish to buy their own homes through initiatives such as shared equity schemes.

Meanwhile the £9 million to help some of the most vulnerable Scots will go towards the creation of a new Scottish Welfare Fund, which will come into force after April, when responsibility for the existing Social Fund transfers from Westminster to Holyrood.

The current fund of £24 million provides community care grants, used to help people live independently, as well as crisis grants which Ms Sturgeon said helped those who had "nowhere else to turn".