Highland Council: 24,000 new homes needed over next 10 years

Highland Council says the area needs an extra 24,000 houses over the next 10 years.

New homes are needed to address a long-standing shortage of affordable homes.

But there is now also an urgent need to have accommodation available for people filling an expected 8,400 jobs to be created by the new Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport.

The council said under the current rate of building it would take over 20 years to reach the required number of new homes.

It said about £2.8bn of extra investment was needed to accelerate the construction programme.

Highland, along with other Scottish local authorities, has been highlighting local housing issues.

It follows the Scottish government declaring a national housing emergency in May, which was designed to formally recognise problems with the wider housing system.

Highland councillors have agreed steps should be taken to develop a housing challenge action plan by the end of this year.

In a report, council officials have set out potential solutions to meeting the 10-year target.

Officers said the local authority's contribution to the cost was manageable within "anticipated, planned budgets".

The report said: "Importantly, the challenge of building this number of houses in 10 years, can be met if a number of strategic objectives are achieved."

The council has built an average of more than 500 affordable properties annually over the last 10 years.

Highland Council has built about 500 affordable homes annually for the past 10 years

Officials have suggested a number of possible ways of raising funds.

These include having the council's £365m housing debt written off to free up investment which could be put towards increasing the number of affordable homes.

They said a significant element of the debt was historical, inherited from former district councils before local government reorganisations in the 1990s.

It is associated with housebuilding programmes to meet demand from the hydro-electric and North Sea oil and gas industries.

Highland Council wrote to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove in May to request a meeting to discuss the UK government partially writing off the debt.

A similar letter has been sent to deputy leader of the Labour Party, Angela Raynor.

Competing demands

Highland Council has also been exploring how it might attract investment from pension funds.

The report said: "Pension fund managers are very keen to invest in housing, it is a low risk, long term sustainable investment and there are various models currently on the market which are worth further consideration.

"Officers have had initial discussions with one private sector pension investor to understand their investment approach and appetite, and further follow up discussions are planned."

The green freeport itself could be another source of funding.

The Highlands' freeport was announced last January, and a Japanese subsea cables company already has plans to open factory there.

Freeports are special economic zones able to offer tax incentives and lower tariffs to help them attract businesses to set up in their areas.

Highland Council said the Inverness and Cromarty Firth freeports' non-domestic rates concession could generate an estimated £550m over 25 years.

But officials said there could be competing demands for the investment to be used for roads and schools.