The Scottish Executive wants a task force to tackle the growing housing shortage, Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell announced yesterday.
Chaired by the minister, the Housing Supply Task Force will challenge land supply and planning issues with the aim of making it easier for more homes to be built.
But other elements of the administration's approach to housing were left unclear, including a £2000 grant for first-time home buyers and whether it would continue with housing stock transfer.
It is also postponing a decision on whether it will follow through on its plans to scrap the Communities Scotland agency responsible for housing. And while it will not scrap the right to buy council homes, it will look for more "local flexibility" where sales have led to local housing shortages.
On starter home grants, the executive will review the case for a housing support fund as part of the wider spending review in autumn, along with a wide-ranging public consultation on a policy area that is fast moving up the political agenda due to shortages, rising prices and planning pressures.
The minister's talks with the private sector about building more homes had already started. Mr Maxwell made the announcement following the publication of a report into the future of Scotland's housing market. It showed that in the Edinburgh area, 30% of working households cannot afford to buy the cheapest properties on the market.
The task force will be drawn from local authorities, house builders, housing associations and housing interest groups.
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