“The introduction of this new agency will maximise delivery, increase efficiency and help ensure even more children, and their families, have a safe, warm, and affordable home.” – Robert Leslie, SNP candidate Orkney Constituency.
Robert Leslie the Orkney SNP candidate has welcomed bold and ambitious new measures taken by the SNP Government to boost housing supply across Orkney and throughout Scotland with the introduction of a new national housing agency focusing on simplicity, scale, and speed, helping to meet housing need.
The new agency, More Homes Scotland, is expected to start operating from 2027-28 and be fully functional in 2028-29, subject to the outcome of May’s Scottish Parliament election.
This development will ensure less duplication, greater expertise, and increased efficiencies – enabling more homes to be delivered – a key priority of John Swinney’s Government.
These measures further build upon the strong foundations already laid by the SNP through the radical £4.9 billion Housing Emergency Action Plan, announced last year, to increase housing stock, end children living in unsuitable accommodation, and support growth and investment in the housing sector.
Robert Leslie said:
“The SNP Scottish Government is determined to tackle the housing emergency and ensure that everyone in Orkney can have somewhere to call home.
“We know that more folk in Orkney – and folk moving to the islands to fill vital jobs – need to be able to access good, affordable, homes. But we know that the drivers of the housing emergency are long-standing and complex, and there are specific issues to delivering affordable housing in the islands.
“The SNP have supported delivery of more than 141,000 affordable homes since 2007, with more than 101,000 for social rent – significantly more per head of population than England and Wales. That includes over 1000 affordable homes in Orkney, with 648 of these for social rent, and we don’t intend to stop this delivery any time soon.
“The introduction of this new agency will maximise delivery, increase efficiency and help ensure even more children, and their families, have a safe, warm, and affordable home.
“The SNP is making real progress in our efforts to achieve our key priority of eradicating child poverty through housing measures. We are taking bold, necessary action to ensure deliver warm, affordable housing for families throughout Orkney, and across mainland Scotland.”
The elections to the Scottish Parliament take place on Thursday 7 May 2026.
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