Margaret Burgess, the recently appointed Minister for Housing and Welfare will address a special conference on innovative housing delivery, at one of her first public platforms in her new role.

The Edinburgh event, run by industry body Homes for Scotland, will bring together a mix of home builders, Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords to debate practical steps to partnering in the finance and delivery of much needed new homes.

With recent statistics highlighting that Scotland’s population is now at its highest ever level1 and the number of new households projected to rise by over 21,000 a year2 new and innovative funding mechanisms are desperately being sought in order to meet an ever-growing demand. This includes the Scottish Government's Innovation Fund, of which an initial £10million was allocated as part of its 2010-11 Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

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Homes for Scotland commissioned research into how this Fund was used and has explored the levels of partnering, the tenure mix and the status of developments which allowed the Scottish Government’s challenging grant caps to be met for the delivery of over 500 new affordable homes.

The organisation's Chief Executive Philip Hogg said: "It is a stark reality that only 15,000 new homes were completed in Scotland last year3. This represents a fall of more than 40% since 2007 and is the lowest level since the end of the Second World War. That is why it is critical that we explore new and creative measures to deliver the housing system that Scotland needs, including the provision of affordable housing.

"We look forward to hearing from the Minister in one of her first public engagements in her new role, as we continue to work closely with Scottish Government and relevant parties to discuss the way forward for innovative funding and partnership working."

(CD)