Rural Scotland People, Prosperity and Partnership

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Scottish Homes Grants

Scottish Homes offers a range of grant mechanisms to increase the housing supply and to ensure affordability in rural areas:

• Housing Association Grant, the principal instrument for meeting the needs of the lower income groups in rural Scotland. We recognise that housing associations have a key role to play in meeting housing needs in rural areas. The majority of Scottish Homes investment in rural Scotland is through Housing Association Grant which remains the mainstay of affordable housing provision and is targeted at needy rural communities, based on local housing market and needs research. In 1995-96, grants to a network of over 20 rural and island housing associations will provide 800 houses for rent and 290 for shared ownership.

• GRO grants for owner occupation are designed to encourage the private sector to supply good quality new or improved homes in priority areas for investment. These areas now cover most of rural Scotland. Amongst the priorities are projects which provide housing for owner occupation, at affordable prices in areas where the supply is limited, or is constrained by market forces. A normal requirement of GRO grant is that council tenants and those on the waiting list are given priority in purchasing the homes. As well as enabling local people to get on to the home ownership ladder for whom it would not otherwise be possible, the scheme also frees up accommodation for those in housing need and relieves pressure on waiting lists.

• Rural Home Ownership Grants, which were piloted in the Western Isles, are targeted at individuals to assist them in gaining access to owner-occupation by helping them to build a new house or renovate an existing one. They have proved to be a cost-effective mechanism for providing low cost housing in remote areas. The grants were extended to all of rural Scotland last year and re-launched with new guidance, promotional material and a targeted leaflet campaign. Scottish Homes had awarded over 150 Rural Home Ownership Grants up to the end of 1994-95 and aims to award a further 120 in 1995-96.