Speaking at the party’s conference over the weekend, Sarwar said Scotland’s housing emergency had become both “a moral imperative and an economic one”, arguing that nearly two decades of SNP government had left young people priced out, rents rising, and more than 10,000 children without a permanent home.

The package outlined includes large-scale investment, planning reform, new delivery bodies and a renewed focus on construction skills. Homes would be built across all tenures, social housing, mid‑market rent and homes to buy, with the aim of scaling up to 30,000 completions a year by the end of the next Parliament.

Scottish Labour said the plan is designed to “get Scotland building again” by tackling bottlenecks in planning, land supply, skills shortages and financing.

Key commitments

Deliver 125,000 new homes over the course of the next Parliament across all tenures. Scottish Labour will build at least 52,300 affordable homes, of which 20,300 will be for mid-market rent and 10% (5,200) will be set aside for those who want to save for a mortgage deposit so they can own home.

Scottish Labour will transform the newly proposed housing agency into a full Housing Bank within the Scottish National Investment Bank, building on the work they are already doing to support housing. The new Housing Investment Bank will deliver government funding for affordable housing, including low-cost loans for investment to expand mid-market rent. In developing the new Housing Bank, it will learn the lessons from More Homes England and the new Build Canada Homes, ensuring it also has a role in developing land for new housing and scaling up offsite manufacture and construction. 

Councils and RSLs would be granted the power to set up Housing Development Trusts which can be nominated as the lead developer for a region. These new Development Trusts will have responsibility for coordinating development at scale to meeting regional housing targets, with the power to use funding to act entrepreneurially, crowd in private investment and establish their own construction companies if necessary. The body aims to learn from successful models that have been established on a smaller scale, such as LAR Housing Trust. 

A £1 homes scheme to bring empty and derelict properties back into use.

Overhaul of planning laws, including reform of NPF4, potential “grey belt” designations, and a strengthened national planning agency to help clear backlogs.

Prioritising construction skills within 9,000 new apprenticeships, focusing on trades such as joinery, plumbing and electrical work.

Sarwar used his conference speech to sharply criticise the Scottish Government’s record, saying the housing crisis was “holding our country back”.

“When we challenged John Swinney on this crisis, he told us to find something else to moan about. That is the voice of a government that has been in office too long, complacent, defensive and out of touch,” he said.

He argued that Labour’s plans would lift people out of poverty, create jobs, support economic growth and give more families the chance to own a home.

Sarwar also pledged to “end the scandal of rough sleeping for once and for all” if elected First Minister.

“This is how we lift people out of poverty, create jobs, grow the economy, and give more families the chance to own a home,” he said. “In ten weeks, Scotland faces a real choice… a Scottish Labour government that will get Scotland building again.”