Hundreds of families will be helped into new homes after a £40 million funding package from the Scottish Government.
Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross councils will receive a £5.1m slice of the money, which will deliver about 1,000 houses, mainly for social rent, throughout Scotland.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the move would also support up to 700 jobs in construction and related sectors over the next two years.
Fife Council’s £2.8m share is the second largest in Scotland. Depute leader David Ross said the windfall would help make up for the reduction in Fife’s housing investment grant and would supplement the work being done to tackle the region’s housing shortage.
“There are 14,000 people waiting for an affordable home and a target to deliver 2,700 new affordable homes by 2017,” he said.
“For every new home that we build, we can provide a chain of allocations to meet the needs of existing and new tenants. The council knows that building homes ourselves will make a major contribution, but this won’t be enough.
“So as well as continuing with the council new build programme, we are also looking for new ways to further boost the number of new affordable homes built and that is why it’s great to hear of today’s funding announcement.”
Plans will be developed to help use the Scottish Government funding to tackle the council’s target. Perth and Kinross will receive £1.5m to help with a project to build 200 new homes, while Angus Council will benefit from £782,000.
Ms Sturgeon said the money would help realise the Scottish Government’s ambition of 5,000 council homes as part of wider plans to deliver more than 30,000 affordable homes during this parliamentary term.
“Quite simply, investing in new homes helps people into work by creating a jobs spin-off with the employment and training that takes place during construction,” she said.
“This funding illustrates that despite the 26% cut to our capital budget by Westminster, the Scottish Government is determined to continue investing in new social housing.”
Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said the money was not new and was part of the overall housing package previously announced by the Scottish Government.
He added, however: “Investment in housing brings both social and economic benefits. It brings hope of a home to those on social housing waiting lists and much needed jobs to the construction industry.
“However, 1,000 new properties across 30 local authorities, at a time when 157,000 households are awaiting for a home, still doesn’t go far enough to address housing need in Scotland.”