Glasgow misses new affordable homes target as construction costs rise

Targets for the delivery of new affordable homes in Glasgow were missed last year, with construction hampered by rising costs.

The Scottish government provided £127.75m for the city's affordable housing supply programme but although all the money was spent, only 448 homes were recorded as complete against a target of 633.

Other targets for approvals and site starts were also missed in 2025/26 for the city, which declared a housing emergency in 2023.

However, a report to the council's city administration committee said Glasgow had managed to deliver significantly more new-build affordable homes compared with other cities within the United Kingdom.

The council secured approval for 557 homes, despite aiming for 921, and there were 947 site starts when there was a 1,271-home target.

New goals for 2026/27 have now been set, with the council aiming to complete more than 1,000 homes. Councillors will be asked to accept a £123.2m grant from the Scottish government at a meeting later this week.

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, the city convener for housing, said: "Despite declaring a housing emergency, the landscape for delivering affordable housing has not become any easier.

"We continue to deal with rising costs which mean that bringing them closer to benchmark can take longer in the planning phase and push approvals into the next year."

He added that due to the way completions were recorded, they were not counted as complete until the whole development was finished - meaning some people living in new homes were not counted in this year's completions.

Figures, for completions between 2019/20 and 2025/26, show 4,249 in Glasgow compared with 3,362 in Birmingham and 2,769 in Manchester.

On last year's targets, the report states that several projects "were not approved and/or started on programme".

It said the reasons for this were complex but involved delays with site acquisition, securing consents, and working through high costs and grant rates.

Targets for 2026/27 include 1,007 completions, 747 site starts and 670 approvals. Of the proposed approvals, 502 properties are for social rent, with 168 for mid-market rent.

The report noted that despite figures showing significant levels of development, it was not at the level required to meet the housing need in the city.

Story by Local Democracy Reporting Service reporter Drew Sandelands.

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