A new financial climate means that 'sweeping changes' are required to shape future housing policy in Scotland, Housing Minister Alex Neil told MSPs yesterday.

Mr Neil said that never before has there been more urgency to ensure value for money underpins the Scottish Government's future investment programme in housing.

Earlier this year, industry body Homes for Scotland warned that the situation for house builders was the most serious since the Second World War.

Over the next 25 years, the number of households in Scotland is projected to increase by more than a fifth to 2.8 million - an average of an additional 19,000 households per year.

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Since May, the Scottish Government's website has been hosting an online debate - Housing: Fresh Thinking: New Ideas - which discusses fundamental questions about the way housing is managed in Scotland.

Speaking during a housing debate in the Scottish Parliament, Alex Neil said: "Good housing can shine a light on matters as diverse as health, education, employment, law and order and the environment. Poor housing casts a long shadow.

"Many housing associations have been working with us, preparing for the storm ahead, finding new ways of working that do not only rely on the old housing association grant(HAG) model, and new partners to work with.

"This Government has delivered record levels of both investment and numbers of houses on the ground - more than £1.7 billion over three years.

"On top of that we also helped bring in extra 70 million pounds in investment from the European Investment Bank, and invested 80 million pounds to kick-start the largest council house building programme for 30 years.

"Housing is more than bricks and mortar. It is part of the fabric of our society, and across the board, it binds us together. Working together, facing the financial challenges shoulder to shoulder, we can make it stronger for the future."

(GK/KMcA)