The Programme for Government (PfG) 2026-31 was introduced by First Minister John Swinney on 1 September in the Scottish Parliament. In a change to the usual annual timeframe, this PfG will last for five years and will focus on eradicating child poverty, growing the economy, tackling the climate emergency, and delivering high-quality and sustainable public services. An update will be published each spring aligned to the budget.
In his speech to Parliament, the first minister also highlighted the cost-of-living crisis, violence against women and girls, and community cohesion as some of the main challenges currently facing Scotland.
This briefing, exclusively for CIH members, summarises the main announcements in the PfG in relation to housing.
The commitments announced in this PfG represent an important opportunity to respond to the housing challenges facing communities across Scotland.
We welcome the government's commitment to tackle violence against women and girls, and for funding to support third sector services and the Fund to Leave. Social landlords are well placed to support survivors of domestic abuse, but only if they have the resources to embed meaningful change.
We also welcome the commitment to re-introduce the Heat in Buildings Bill, which was delayed during the last parliamentary term. A robust bill is essential to provide certainty for housing providers, tenants and owners and for industry to build the skills and capacity needed to deliver energy efficiency measures and clean heating systems to tackle fuel poverty and climate change.
While the First Minister repeated the Scottish government's commitment to deliver 110,000 social and affordable homes by 2032, he provided little detail of how these new homes will be delivered. This follows mounting evidence that the government is falling significantly behind its own target and even further behind the target of 15,693 homes per year set out in the research we published with Shelter Scotland and SFHA.
The success of the PfG will be determined not by ambition alone, but the detail that sits behind the plan. We will welcome further information and detail, to provide confidence that progress can be achieved at the pace and scale required.
As the professional body for housing, CIH Scotland looks forward to working closely with all housing professionals and partners to support the delivery of more homes.
