Council leader promises 200 additional houses by 2017
Council leader Drew Hendry has revealed plans for another 200 council houses to be built across the Highlands by 2017.
Speaking at the Highland Homelessness conference in Nairn today, councillor Hendry said the local authority was on track to meet its target of building 688 homes over the next three years and would be building 200 more after making savings through Highland Council’s homeless prevention team.
He praised the "stunning" success of the team in achieving a 53 per cent reduction in homeless presentations and a 33 per cent reduction in the use of temporary accommodation since their creation in June 2011.
The team has worked with 4,269 households, recording a 65 per cent success rate in terms of homeless presentations prevented.
Councillor Hendry said: "Homelessness is mainly a product of a shortage of suitable, affordable housing.
"We have always argued that we need to build more houses in the highlands to address homelessness. That is why we have an ambitious programme of council house building.
"We are well on track to meet our target of building 688 new council houses by 2017.
"The council has also committed to using the savings in temporary accommodation costs to fund new supply, which will increase our ability to meet temporary accommodation needs from our own stock.
"We will be building 200 additional homes by 2017."