Homes for Scotland has welcomed the announcement of measures by Westminster Government, aimed at maintaining the delivery of new affordable housing and stablising the housing market, and is urging the Scottish Government to establish and fund similar initiatives here.

Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, Jonathan Fair said: "The health of the Scottish home building industry is linked to that of the rest of the UK, so any support will be good news for our member companies, many of whom operate on both sides of the Border.

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"Westminster Government has recognised that the health of the home building industry is key to the country's economic wellbeing and that urgent support is required. While the Scottish Government has recently announced some assistance, much of this involves tweaking existing programmes.

"Significant investment of new money, from within the Housing Budget or elsewhere, is urgently needed to deal with what is now a very critical situation. Many thousands of Scottish jobs are at risk and Scottish Government needs to act quickly and effectively to support one of our most important industries.

"We are taking particular interest in the new National Clearing House announced today by the UK Housing Minister, which will support the sale of unsold stock for social and affordable housing. The Scottish Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell indicated in a recent radio interview that he would welcome proposals along these lines from Scottish home builders."

(GK/JM)