MSP Siobhian Brown has welcomed a £40 million funding boost for councils across Scotland to boost the supply of affordable homes. 

The money will mostly be distributed to the five council areas with sustained temporary accommodation pressures: Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

The cash will be used to purchase properties to help reduce the number of families in temporary accommodation or, where appropriate, to bring long term voids back into use.

The other 27 local authorities will receive a share of the remaining funding. A further £40m will be allocated to councils next year.

East Ayrshire will receive £122,000, North Ayrshire will get £293,000 and South Ayrshire will be handed £301,000.

MSP for Ayr, Prestwick and Troon, Siobhian Brown, said: "Tackling the housing emergency is one of the key issues here and one of the key ways we can solve it is by bringing empty and vacant buildings back into use.

"This £40m fund, introduced by the SNP Government as part of the £600m affordable housing budget, will ensure that we can build on the 1,500 properties that were brought into use for affordable housing in the past year. 

"Every family across Scotland including here in Ayr, Prestwick and Troon deserves to have a safe and warm place that they can call home and with the SNP in government that is exactly what they will get."