A five-year, £500 million housing investment plan has been approved by Glasgow City Council.

The council has approved the Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for the city for the 2020-25 period, and will now submit this plan to the Scottish Government.

The council aims to potentially bring around £500million of investment into the building of new affordable homes and improving the quality and condition of existing housing in the city.

The SHIP for Glasgow outlines the city's priorities and resources available for investing in housing, and does so to achieve the ambitions and housing supply targets of the Glasgow Housing Strategy (GHS).

The GHS has two main themes: increasing the supply and improving the quality of housing available to the people of Glasgow, and improving access to appropriate housing. The strategy also has six strategic priorities: new-build housing and area regeneration; the management, maintenance and improvement of existing housing; raising private rented sector standards; the tackling of fuel poverty, energy inefficiency and climate change; improved access to housing across all tenures; and the promotion of health and wellbeing.

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Glasgow's SHIP has its own priorities, informed by the GHS, including: quality in design; community benefits; ensuring best value for money; and meeting diverse needs. Some of these needs mean that specific targets are set in the building of new affordable homes - such as 10% of all new homes are required to be wheelchair readily adaptable, and 60 new family sized homes with four or more bedrooms have to be delivered each year (to help address the needs for larger family houses for homeless people).

The SHIP for the 2020/21 - 2024/25 period in Glasgow was developed through consultation with the council's housing partners, including housing associations, private developers, the voluntary sector, and other organisations with an interest in housing policy and delivery. The council will work with these partners to deliver the SHIP.

Councillor Kenny McLean, City Convener for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm at Glasgow City Council, said: "The building of new high-quality, sustainable and affordable homes - and improving existing ones - is key not only to improving the quality of life for many Glaswegians, and helping to ensure everyone has housing appropriate to their needs, but also creates the sustainable and inclusive mixed-tenure communities that will allow Glasgow to thrive in the future. The approval of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan means we can move to the next stage of delivering thousands of these homes to Glasgow over the next five years, with all the inclusive growth, economic, social and environmental benefits that this will bring."

(MH/JG)