Friday January 30th 2026
Edinburgh City Chambers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Edinburgh’s finance boss has hit back after Glasgow’s housing chief said it would ‘happily’ take on £60m the capital has not spent on acquiring and building new housing this year.
On social media, Glasgow’s housing convener, SNP councillor Ruari Kelly said: “Having a little slippage in your build programme is one thing, not spending nearly half your budget is another.
“If Edinburgh can’t or won’t build houses then the money should be reallocated to Glasgow, the area of greatest housing need in the country.”
Now Edinburgh’s finance convener Mandy Watt has responded, telling the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Both Edinburgh and Glasgow are facing an unprecedented need for more homes.
“I would certainly welcome anything that the Scottish Government can do to help both cities address this need.”
She also restated her previous position that capital budgets being underspent is ‘not unusual’, and that a lack of available homes to buy out was contributing to the issue.
At a risk management meeting last week, top council bosses said the underspend – of £45m for purchasing housing, and almost £15m for new council houses – was due to ‘slippage’.
Councillors there also noted £11m in savings in the homelessness budget, which bosses said came down to ‘good value for money’ and a shortage of available temporary housing.
SNP councillor Kate Campbell told the LDRS last week: “During a housing emergency, to fail to spend £60m allocated for homes shows a complete lack of focus on the number one issue facing the city.”
Cllr Watt, meanwhile, said the city had a duty to get the best value for money possible for taxpayers, and that the money would be carried over to next year.
Glasgow’s Cllr Kelly told the LDRS earlier this week that Glasgow was building more council housing than surrounding local authorities, and that it had ‘some of the UK’s best social housing’.
He added that redirecting unspent housing money to the city, which he says faces the highest housing burden in Scotland, would contribute to addressing its housing crisis.
Cllr Kelly further said that he wanted to see more cooperation between local authorities on planning new housing projects and making better use of underutilised housing.
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