Council areas across Scotland are to share more than £3.2 billion in grant funding over five years to deliver more affordable homes.

Local authorities will benefit from an increase of more than £541 million on the previous five year allocation – an uplift of more than 20 per cent.

Housing secretary Shona Robison said: “We have already delivered more than 102,000 affordable homes since 2007. Building on this, our aim is to deliver 100,000 affordable homes by 2032, with at least 70 per cent of these for social rent.

“Meeting this ambition will require continued collaboration across the private and public sectors. I’m pleased to be increasing significantly the available affordable housing grant funding for council areas to help with this important work.

“The five-year allocations will provide the certainty and assurance the housing sector needs to deliver the ambitious affordable homes target set out in our Housing to 2040 strategy.”

Welcoming the increased funding commitment, COSLA resources spokesperson Councillor Gail Macgregor said: “We welcome the Scottish government’s commitment to contributing to the cost of affordable housing in Scotland. The priority for councils, and housing associations, is ensuring rent affordability and warm, safe, comfortable homes for current and future tenants.

“As we look to recover from the impacts of the pandemic, councils are working side by side with their communities. We maintain a focus on our shared ambitions around tackling child poverty and climate change, alongside building more houses.”