Scottish households and business are benefiting from a range of measures to help them through the recession, with an extra £31m set to support new housing across Scotland, Finance Secretary John Swinney said today as the the Scottish Government published an update to its Economic Recovery Programme.

The new funding, consequentials from the UK budget, will be focused on accelerating and sustaining investment in new housing developments for affordable rent across the country.

It will also unblock and kick-start private developments to help deliver homes for mid-market rent and low cost ownership and will support around 500 jobs in the Scottish economy.

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Mr Swinney said: "Businesses and households rightly demand swift, decisive and comprehensive action to help them through these tough times.

"The update of the Scottish Government's economic recovery programme and the new money for housing shows that across the Scottish public sector we are stepping up to that challenge and delivering what our economy needs.

"The housing funding announced today will be a crucial boost for our construction sector and will provide the kind of affordable housing people need."

Mr Swinney will visit the Victoria Mill housing project in Dunfermline today to see work already underway thanks to this Government's decision to accelerate spending in partnership with local authorities.

He will be joined by Housing Minister Alex Neil, who said: "The provision of affordable housing in the current economic downturn has been my number one ministerial priority.

"This additional funding will allow us to build even more houses, which is not only good news for communities throughout Scotland, but also our hard pressed construction industry."

The Government's funding for affordable housing is already at record levels in the current year, amounting to £644m. The Scottish Government plans to approve grants for 8,100 affordable homes in 2009-10.

(GK/JM)