Loans for Scottish social landlords to build affordable homes

The Charitable Bond programme has reopened to applications, meaning social landlords in Scotland will be able to access loans to build more affordable housing.

Up to £80 million is available in the current financial year for loans for registered housing associations.

Scottish Registered Social Landlords will be able access unsecured loans which start from £1 million on terms of up to 15 years.

The interest paid on the loans will be reinvested as grants into the social rented sector.

More than £260 million of loans have been paid to housing associations in Scotland since 2014, which has generated around £50 million in grants.

This will be the third round of the programme. Following pilots in 2014 and 2015, the first round ran from 2015 to 2017 and the second round ran from 2017 to March 2021.

Housing Secretary Shona Robison said: "The Charitable Bond programme is an innovative way to offer funding to social landlords so that they can deliver as many homes as possible.

“The programme gives social landlords access to funding that they can’t receive elsewhere, and reinvests the interest paid on the loans – further increasing housing supply.

“Scotland has led the way in the delivery of affordable housing across the UK with almost 113,000 affordable homes built since 2007. This investment will help towards our current target of delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.”