THE Scottish government has announced an extra £43 million to deliver hundreds more “affordable” homes across the country.

The cash takes will be ploughed into a charitable bonds scheme lending money to social landlords and re-investing interest payments in affordable housing, which has already delivered 4,500 homes since its inception in 2014.

Housing secretary Mairi McAllan said: “The charitable bonds programme shows our determination to make best use of different streams of finance to deliver more warm, safe and affordable homes for hundreds of families.

“This sits alongside our commitment to deliver up to £4.9 billion of investment over the coming four years, with homes delivered through a mixture of public and private investment.”

The announcement came just hours after industry group Homes for Scotland predicted a slump in housebuilding in the coming years, its chief executive, Jane Wood, warning: “In stark terms, Scotland does not have the deliverable land that is required to maintain a sufficient housing pipeline over the next 10 years.

“This means that far from being solved any time soon, the housing emergency is only set to deepen.”