£5BILLION FOR 36,000 HOMES

But Labour brand investment 'too little, too late'

- BY CHRIS MCCALL

THE Scottish Government yesterday announced they plan to invest nearly £5billion to build new 36,000 homes.

The SNP Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan also revealed that £80million would be spent acquiring properties to help give about 800 children and their families a permanent home this year.

SNP ministers have been repeatedly criticised over the slow pace of housebuilding in Scotland at a time more than 10,000 youngsters are stuck living in temporary accommodation across the country, including in B&Bs.

McAllan, who was handed a beefed-up Cabinet role by John Swinney to tackle the housing emergency, told MSPs it was the Government's ambition to invest £4.9billion over the next four years to deliver 36,000 new affordable homes by the end of the decade.

But this figure is far short of the 15,600 new homes which campaigners have warned must be built each year before 2031 if the emergency is to end.