Background and Evidence
Background
Strategic Housing Investment Plans (SHIPs) are prepared by local authorities. Their purpose is to set out strategic investment priorities for affordable housing over a 5 year period to achieve the outcomes set out in the local housing strategy.
SHIPs are the key documents for identifying strategic housing projects to assist the achievement of the Scottish Government’s five year 50,000 affordable home completion target. The target covers the period April 2016 to end of March 2021. Of the 50,000 affordable home targets 35,000 are for social rent. They inform Scottish Government investment decisions in the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (ASHP).
In 2017-18, the AHSP budget is £590.6m. Of this the majority, 71% (£422.6m) is available for locally developed programmes. The rest of the AHSP budget is managed centrally by the Scottish Government. Each local authority is provided with a three-year Resource Planning Assumption (RPA) on which SHIPs are based.
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) have produced a briefing on SHIPs and this can be found at the following link:
Committee Consideration
During its scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s Draft Budget in December 2016, the Minister was asked by the Committee to provide some summary information on SHIPs. In response, the Minister confirmed that he would be willing to provide this, but was unable to comment on timings at that stage.
At its meeting on 8 February 2017, the Committee agreed to invite the Minister to give evidence on his analysis of the SHIPs. Prior to the evidence session with the Minister, the Committee received an informal briefing from Scottish Government officials on SHIPs. The Minister also wrote to the Committee on 18 April 2017 with the summary information requested by the Committee at the December 2016 meeting. The Scottish Government also wrote to the Committee on 9 May 2017 with further information requested by the Committee. This correspondence is reproduced below.
Oral Evidence
The Committee took evidence from the following at its meeting on 10 May 2017:
- Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing, Caroline Dicks, Head of Affordable Housing, and Lisa Bullen, Planning Team Leader, Scottish Government.
Link to Papers for meeting on 10 May 2017.
Official Report of meeting on 10 May 2017.
The Minister for Local Government and Housing wrote to the Convener on 12 June 2017 following the evidence session on 10 May 2017:
Following the evidence session with the Minister for Local Government and Housing, the Committee agreed to write to local authorities requesting further information on their SHIP and its effectiveness.
The responses from local authorities to the Convener's letter can be found at the following link:
Responses from Local Authorities on SHIPs.
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has produced a briefing summarising the responses received from local authorities: