4. To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting housing associations in the Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn Constituency to help to deliver its target of 50,000 new affordable homes. (S5O-02230)

Over the course of the current parliamentary session, we plan to invest £56 million in the Maryhill and Springburn Constituency. That is part of the £537 million funding that the Scottish Government is making available to Glasgow for investment in affordable housing. The investment will provide an additional 1,106 affordable homes for Maryhill and Springburn communities, and make a significant contribution to our ambitious target of delivering more than 50,000 affordable homes in the course of this session.

In addition, through our new building Scotland fund we will support a further 3,000 new homes over the coming years, by providing funding to help to deliver a mix of affordable and market homes. That is a distinct and separate commitment to our 50,000 affordable homes target during this session, and is a further investment from this Government as we continue to support all housing tenures across Scotland.

I welcome the Minister’s answer, and I draw his attention to the 50 new units that will be completed by Cadder Housing Association around the turn of this year. Cadder Housing Association wants to contribute to the wider regeneration of the community and is developing a Cadder vision strategy for an area of significant deprivation and disadvantage, as is acknowledged in the Scottish index of multiple deprivation.

Will the minister say how the Scottish Government seeks proactively to target resources more generally at severely deprived communities such as Cadder? Will he accept my invitation to see for himself the ambitious plans in the Cadder vision?

I am delighted to hear that

Cadder Housing Association wants to contribute to the wider regeneration of the area, and I am delighted to hear about the Cadder vision. We support wider community-led regeneration through a combination of funding and investment, in order to create the conditions that support community empowerment throughout the country.

I am pleased that Cadder has already benefited from £1 million of regeneration capital grant funding, with the development of a state-of-the-art community facility, which the housing association manages in partnership with Glasgow City Council.

I would be delighted to visit Cadder—although that might be a while off; I have accepted a lot of invitations in the chamber in recent weeks—to hear about the wider vision, and I would be happy to meet Bob Doris there.

Kevin Stewart has pulled back from his manifesto pledge to build 50,000 new affordable homes and is instead promising to “deliver” 50,000 homes, which will include bringing empty homes back into use. Can he tell us how many of the 50,000 homes will be new-build homes and how many will be old?

I intend to build and deliver as many new affordable homes as possible over the course of this parliamentary session. As Mr Simpson knows from my appearances at the Local Government and Communities Committee, which have been numerous, I am determined to allow local authorities the flexibility to buy back homes in areas where it is not possible to build and where homes are required to fulfil the needs of local people.

Beyond that, I want to ensure that the homes that we build and deliver across the country are meeting the needs of the people of Scotland. Parliament can be assured of my determination to deliver and build as many affordable homes as possible. That aim is backed by the whole Government.

The Presiding Officer:

I am very conscious that we are going to stop before 12 o’clock, but I will bring in Ivan McKee if he can be very brief.

Thank you, Presiding Officer.

The need for more affordable homes is indisputable. Is the Minister considering innovative solutions? For example, Clyde Homes in my Constituency builds high-quality affordable homes in a factory setting, which is considerably cheaper than a traditional build, and can have the homes transported and installed on site in a matter of weeks. Is the minister looking at such approaches?

I am very much doing that; I have visited a number of off-line construction sites. I am willing to have further conversation with Ivan McKee on that and to visit Clyde Homes.

The Presiding Officer:

Thank you. I apologise to members whom I could not bring in.