The management of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme should be devolved to councils to help combat the housing emergency in Scotland, COSLA has argued.

In its new report, titled ‘Tackling the Housing Emergency’, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) has called for urgent action from the Scottish Government to help fix the housing system.

The cross-party organisation that represents Scottish councils has warned that it is improbable that the Scottish Government/COSLA Housing to 2040 Strategy will be achieved if action is not taken ‘boldly and swiftly’.

Among the key asks of the report are the devolution of management of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to local authorities to ensure more flexibility, a call for the delivery of ongoing funding for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme and a reformed funding formulae, as well as advising the inclusion of community wealth building aims in the development of a proposed new national housing agency.

It recommends that the national housing agency governance is overseen by COSLA and involves work with local authorities and urges that the agency does not affect the devolution of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to councils.

Highlighting the importance of re-empowering local government to tackle the housing emergency, the report argues that bureaucracy should be limited in favour of ‘more local solutions that make a real difference to the people in our communities’.

‘Housing is more than bricks and mortar. It is the foundation of thriving places, resilient communities, and economic confidence. If Scotland is serious about enabling everyone to live well locally, then empowering councils must be a defining priority of the next Scottish Parliament’, the report reads.