A £200 million increase in Scottish Government funding to stimulate Scotland’s housing industry will safeguard construction jobs and is expected to deliver thousands of new affordable homes.

According to new Scottish Government calculations, the boost in next year’s housing supply budget is forecast to support at least 6,500 jobs and lever in significant private investment to deliver £600m of total investment.

The £200m additional funding for housing was set out last week by deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon during her appearance before the Scottish Parliament’s Infrastructure and Capital Investment committee.

Housing minister Margaret Burgess will meet housing leaders tomorrow, when she will urge them to work with the Scottish Government and each other to help shape a five year joint delivery plan for housing in Scotland.

A breakdown of the £200m funding allocation will be announced in the coming weeks.

Margaret Burgess said: “We want to make sure that everyone in Scotland has access to good quality housing that meets their needs.

“Providing social rented homes, safeguarding jobs, helping to finance infrastructure, and supporting the construction industry to build for both private and public markets is a top priority for the Scottish Government.

“We are taking action to increase the supply of affordable housing - in fact we have boosted housing supply budgets by investing £1.7bn in affordable housing over the lifetime of this Parliament.

“Through our partners in councils and housing associations, we have now delivered more than 21,000 affordable homes and are two-thirds of the way towards our target of 30,000.

“Despite challenging economic conditions and Scottish budgets being cut, our rate of house building per head continues to outperform other parts of the UK.

“We have delivered over 4,000 new council houses since 2009 and are committed to preserving Scotland’s social housing stock by abolishing the Right to Buy, which will protect up to 15,500 social houses from sale and safeguard social housing for future generations.”