Glasgow affordable homes targets missed amid rising costs, 2026

Key Points

• Glasgow missed its 2025/26 targets for approvals, site starts and completions of new affordable homes.
• Rising construction costs, delays in securing consents and site acquisition issues were cited as key reasons.
• The city received £127.75m in Scottish Government funding for its affordable housing supply programme last year; all of it was spent.
• Only 448 affordable homes were recorded as complete against a target of 633; approvals reached 557 against 921; site starts were 947 against 1,271.
• Two large developments were not fully finished by year end, though 138 homes on those sites were completed and tenanted, lifting the effective completion figure to 586.
• Glasgow’s housing chiefs say development costs have risen sharply—by 56% per unit between 2017/18 and 2023/24, and by a further 6% in the last year alone.
• The council’s five-year Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) identifies 166 projects with potential to deliver 6,637 new affordable homes, but funding and cost pressures constrain delivery.

Glasgow (Glasgow Express) August 4, 2026 — Glasgow missed its delivery targets for new affordable homes in 2025/26 as rising costs and approval delays hampered construction, according to a report considered by the council. As reported by the Glasgow Times, targets for approvals, site starts and completions were all undershot amid “high costs” and delays linked to securing consents and site acquisition.

The council’s housing leadership said the available funding was insufficient to meet the scale of housing need in the city. Last year, the Scottish Government provided £127.75m for Glasgow’s affordable housing supply programme. All of the cash was spent, but only 448 homes were recorded as complete, against a target of 633.

Approvals reached 557 homes despite an aim for 921, and there were 947 site starts compared with a 1,271-home target. Councillors were told that the way completions are recorded means properties are “not counted as complete until the whole development is finished,” which can depress the annual figure even when households have moved in.

What do the numbers show about completions, approvals and starts?

The official out-turn completion figure, after accounting for 138 homes that were completed and tenanted on two large but not fully finished sites, stood at 586. Even with that adjustment, the city remained below its 633-home completions target for the year.

On approvals and starts, the report stated several projects “were not approved and/or started on programme,” with reasons described as “complex.” Those reasons included delays on site acquisition, challenges in securing consents, and the need to work through high costs and grant rates.

How are rising costs affecting affordable housebuilding in Glasgow?

Glasgow’s housing chiefs have pointed to steep increases in development costs as a central constraint. According to the council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) 2025/26 to 2029/30, the cost of developing affordable housing in Glasgow has risen by 56% per unit between 2017/18 and 2023/24, and by 6% in the last year alone.

The average total development cost to build a new registered social landlord (RSL) property in 2023/24 was £245,476, while the average grant approval was £180,936 per unit for social rent. That grant level is 52% over the Scottish Government’s grant benchmarks for a three-person equivalent household as of October 2024, indicating that projects require substantially more public subsidy per home than previously modelled.

What funding is available and where are the shortfalls?

Funding pressures have been compounded by changes to the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP). The Scottish Government reduced AHSP funding by around £200m nationally, creating uncertainty for future years. For 2024/25, Glasgow’s AHSP allocation was cut to £78.687m—24% less than the resource planning assumption previously announced for the city.

The reduction in AHSP funding for 2024/25 has already impacted the approval pipeline, with fewer than 350 units expected to be approved in that financial year. In the most recent full year, the £127.75m provided was fully spent but did not stretch to meet the city’s delivery targets.

What is the council’s five-year plan and what does it identify?

Glasgow City Council’s SHIP 2025/26 to 2029/30 sets out 166 proposed projects with potential to deliver 6,637 new affordable homes, alongside support for registered social landlords to strategically acquire 550 private sector homes for social rent. However, the plan cautions that development costs and budget constraints will limit delivery.

The document notes that while 166 projects are identified, the pace, number and scale of projects that can be delivered are at significant risk due to increasing costs, reductions in the resource planning assumption and uncertainty over future funding.

What have housing chiefs and councillors said about the situation?

Councillors have publicly acknowledged the difficulty of meeting targets under current conditions. As reported in local coverage, Councillor Kelly said:

“We know that inflationary pressures caused by multiple reasons outwith our control have increased the costs of house building by well over 50% in recent years… Meeting our targets will be challenging.”

The council’s report to members emphasised that the reasons for missed targets were multifactorial, involving site acquisition delays, consent processes and high costs. At the same time, officials highlighted that some homes occupied by tenants were not yet counted in the official completions total because the wider development had not been fully signed off.

Background: How did Glasgow reach this point in affordable housing delivery?

Glasgow has faced a protracted period of pressure on affordable housing supply, with previous years also seeing targets missed due to external shocks. Problems linked to the pandemic, Brexit, the war in Ukraine and expensive supplies previously held up the building of affordable homes, contributing to missed targets in 2021/22.

In 2023, the council’s SHIP was initially approved with projections to build 7,500 affordable homes, but those ambitions were later revised in light of rising costs. The council’s Local Housing Strategy 2023–28 retained an all-tenure housing supply target of 13,000 homes, with an ‘affordable’ target of 6,500 and an explicit aim that 80% of homes approved through the AHSP would be for social rent.

At the same time, sector-wide warnings have mounted about the affordability of new social homes. As reported by Scottish Housing News, Councillor Elaine McDougall raised fears that some social homes could become “unaffordable” amid the cost-of-living crisis and as community housing associations are taken over by larger organisations. Nationally, built environment groups have also warned that Scotland risks missing climate targets without investment in retrofit skills, adding another layer of complexity to housing delivery and costs.

Prediction: How could this development affect people seeking affordable homes in Glasgow?

If rising costs and funding constraints persist, people on waiting lists for affordable housing in Glasgow are likely to face longer waits and fewer options in the short to medium term. The council’s own analysis flags that fewer approvals and starts this year will feed into lower completions in future years, tightening supply at a time when demand remains high.

For households reliant on social rent, the gap between grant levels and actual development costs may force the council and registered social landlords to prioritise smaller schemes or delay larger projects, potentially reducing the mix of home sizes and locations available. For private renters struggling with rent rises, the slowdown in new affordable supply reduces the likelihood of moving into more secure, lower-cost tenancies, sustaining pressure on the private rental market.

Without additional funding or cost mitigation—such as streamlined consents, targeted infrastructure support or revised grant benchmarks—the city’s ability to accelerate delivery to match need will remain constrained, with the most acute impact felt by those currently in temporary accommodation or overcrowded housing.