MILLIONS of pounds earmarked for new social housing in Inverclyde has been handed back to the Scottish Government – despite the area having one of the worst records for new building in the whole of Scotland.
A total of £19million set aside to build new affordable homes in the area has been returned in the last two years, local SNP MSP Stuart McMillan told the Scottish Parliament.
While Scottish Government figures put that total at £18.27m over the last four years, the government’s own statistics show only 49 new homes for the social housing sector were completed in Inverclyde in 2023-24, and none at all were completed in the last financial year.
According to Scottish Government figures, nearly £38m was made available to support the delivery of affordable homes in Inverclyde in the four years from 2021 to 2025, but only £19.7m was actually used.
Mr McMillan claims housing associations are ‘refusing’ to build new homes despite a ‘housing emergency’ in the area, with lengthy waiting lists and hundreds of properties lying empty.
He says nothing has changed on the ground since a ‘housing summit’ in Greenock last April, and insists urgent action is now needed.
The area’s largest social landlord, River Clyde Homes (RCH), told regulators last year that it has 447 unoccupied properties on its books, but that there was low demand for the smaller tenement flats that form a large proportion of its stock.
In December 2024, another of the area’s registered social landlords, Oak Tree Housing Association, announced it was ceasing work on the building of 15 affordable homes at Strone Farm because of spiralling costs.
Bucking the trend, 64 new affordable homes for Sanctuary Housing are nearing completion at the former Greenock Health Centre site in Duncan Street.
But Mr McMillan told the Telegraph: “The housing summit took place in April, but since then nothing has changed and it is time for action.
“There is house building going on in places like Renfrewshire, and that money could be spent in Inverclyde.
“So many problems could be solved if we could sort out affordable housing.
"People no longer want to live in four-in-a-blocks or flats. They want a front and back door.
"I appreciate there are challenges to house building which increase costs. Inverclyde is built on a hill with less flat space than other places. [But] there needs to be a willingness in Inverclyde to build new houses.”
Responding to Mr McMillan at Holyrood, Ms McAllan said more than £9m had been made available this financial year to support the delivery of affordable housing in the area.
An RCH spokesperson said: "River Clyde Homes welcomed the housing summit that took place in April and are working closely with partners to achieve the collectively agreed priority outcomes for Inverclyde summarised in the Housing Summit Action Plan."
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A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This year the Scottish Government has made £9.687m available to support the delivery of affordable housing in Inverclyde and is actively working with local partners, including the council who have legal responsibility for provision of housing, to maximise delivery with this government investment.”
An Inverclyde Council spokesperson said: “We absolutely want to see more houses being built in Inverclyde to keep people in the area and attract more people to the area as part of our efforts to tackle population decline.
“But we also know how challenging and costly it currently is for housing associations and private developers to build new homes not just here in Inverclyde but right across the country.
“That’s why we’re working alongside a variety of partners and stakeholders to find out the issues that are preventing housebuilding and what could be done to make it easier for housing associations and private developers to build more homes in Inverclyde.
“The housing summit last year was a great way to get key partners together to discuss the challenges but also explore the opportunities.
“Since the summit we have been working with all partners to enable the delivery of new houses and we have active engagement with private and social housing developers to deliver new homes.
“There is huge potential for Inverclyde and the engagement following the summit proves there is development interest in Inverclyde.
“We are working closely with a variety of stakeholders to unlock that potential and we look forward to sharing more information in due course.”
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