A Scottish Lib Dem housing policy has been described as a “win-win” by the party’s leader.
With days left before the Holyrood election on Thursday, Alex Cole-Hamilton used a visit to Inverness to tout his party’s plan for housing key workers.
Under Lib Dem plans, 10,000 new homes would be built and offered at mid-market rent to key workers, with councils given the power to identify the sectors in which staff will benefit.
Speaking during the visit, the Lib Dem leader said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats will tackle the chronic housing shortage by returning housebuilding to a level that gets 25,000 new homes built annually, and create new key worker housing so that finding a home isn’t a barrier to taking up a job when somewhere is crying out for your skills.
“Housebuilders tell me the SNP’s chopping and changing of housing policy must end because it’s forced big institutional investors away.
“Care home bosses tell me their staff can’t find somewhere to live.
“We need to make it easier for people to move to take better job opportunities.
“This key worker housing policy is a win-win.
“We’d get Scotland building again and secure a supply of workers in vital industries.
“It will mean finding a home isn’t a barrier to taking up a job when somewhere is crying out for your skills.
“Lib Dems believe in giving power back to communities.
“That’s why we believe it should be up to councils to decide who qualifies as a key worker in their area.
“In some locations that might mean building housing reserved for NHS or care staff.
“In others, it might be teachers or farm workers.”
Scottish Conservative rural affairs spokesman Tim Eagle said: “The SNP have neglected the housing needs of rural Scotland for nearly 20 years now.
“Their failure to deliver homes has had deeply damaging consequences for our economy, making it less likely for people to live and work in areas such as northern Scotland.
“The Scottish Conservatives would take a comprehensive approach by backing repopulation zones and bringing empty buildings back into use.
“We would work with local authorities and health boards to ensure there is enough housing for key workers such as nurses, doctors and dentists to make rural Scotland beneficial for them and their families.”
