Home building industry body Homes for Scotland welcomed the additional £40m capital investment in affordable housing announced in the Draft Budget yesterday.

But it also called for a repeat of the Scottish Government's Innovation Fund of which an initial £10m was allocated as part of its 2010-11 Affordable Housing Investment Programme and challenged all sectors to come forward with creative solutions for the efficient delivery of affordable homes.

The call follows publication earlier this week of research specially commissioned by the organization looking at how the Fund was used and exploring the levels of partnering and tenure mix of developments which successfully delivered over 600 new affordable homes whilst meeting challenging grant caps.

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Homes for Scotland Chief Executive Philip Hogg said: "At a time when housing output in Scotland is at its lowest level since the Second World War, such creative funding streams and partnership working with all involved in housing delivery can make a real difference to the provision of desperately needed new homes. Our research demonstrates that Scotland's home builders and RSLs can rise to this challenge.

"The fundamental priorities outlined in the Draft Budget were to accelerate economic recovery, create jobs and secure new opportunities through the low-carbon economy.

"With a high employment multiplier and the numerous other consequential benefits arising from home building, no other industry has the potential to help the Scottish Government achieve so much across all of these policy areas. Housing must be kept top of the political agenda."

(NE)