Aberdeen City Council has agreed to take forward a feasibility study to build 2,000 new council houses in the city by 2022.

A motion brought forward by council leader Councillor Jenny Laing at a communities, housing and infrastructure (CHI) committee meeting yesterday was backed unanimously by members.

The motion instructs the Director of CHI to bring the report to the Council’s budget meeting in February.

Councillor Laing said: “The lack of affordable housing in our cities and communities is now a UK-wide crisis and is crippling many of our families - often leaving them without the means to provide a safe, comfortable living environment for their children. That is one of our basic needs.

“This issue is of particular concern for the younger generation who are faced with a choice between enormous debt spanning the rest of their lives or crippling monthly rent payments to put a roof over their heads.

“Over the past few years, we have put in place a series of innovative measures to deliver what is a significant investment in affordable housing in Aberdeen.

“Our housing programme, alongside housing association Places for People and delivered by Shaping Aberdeen Housing LLP, will make more new homes available at mid-market rent than any other local authority in Scotland in the next five years and also allow families to gain a foothold on the property ladder.

“However, we need to keep addressing this issue and continue to consider every possible option to deliver social housing that meets the needs of our residents and indeed puts in a place a step-change in housing management which could be replicated by other local authorities.”

Work is currently underway at housing sites in Manor Walk and Smithfield to build 179 new council homes.

The feasibility report will consider plans for an additional 2,000 council homes to add to that existing commitment.