Wednesday June 10th 2026
Scottish Borders Councillor Marshall Douglas
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Almost £5.5m of funding allocated to the Scottish Borders to provide affordable housing in the region over the last year went unspent, it has been revealed.
The Scottish Government earmarked £16.189m of Affordable Housing Supply Programme funding to Scottish Borders Council and registered social landlords (RSLs) to assist the delivery of affordable housing within the Borders in 2025/26.
But the final spend for the period was just £10.803m – meaning that £5.386m which remained available was not utilised.
“Regrettable was not strong enough a word” to describe that situation, members of the council’s Executive Committee were informed when they met on Tuesday, June 9.
Councillor Marshall Douglas, SNP for Tweeddale East, said: “That £5.386m unspent equates to 33.26 per cent of the overall allocation and is actually 49 per cent of the actual amount spent, so it’s a significant amount that has not been spent.”
The reasons for the underspend included costs, inflation increasing, a shortage of land supply and general industry problems.
However, Mr Douglas believes that the Borders public will be concerned at the vast mount of money unspent.
On a more positive note the latest affordable housing allocation from Scottish Government to the Borders for 2026/27 is already largely allocated.
Mr Douglas added: “The headline of over £5m not being spent and with previously similar amounts in earlier years I think the public will be quite rightly concerned at that situation.
“I’m encouraged that the current year’s allocation is pretty much accounted for, so that is encouraging.”
Members were told that the £5m-plus underspend is no longer recoverable with the funding now allocated elsewhere and not returned to the Borders.
In response, Nula McKinlay, Scottish Borders Council’s director of Corporate Governance, said: “The word regrettable is not strong enough to describe this”, adding: “The reasons are multiple and complex. The positive is that we are on the front foot for the year coming.”
Tweet Share on Facebook
