The public sector watchdog offered little consolation for overcrowded households as it described "significant challenges" for the housing sector following repeated funding cuts.
In 2005 a Labour-Lib Dem coalition government found Scotland needed more than 8,000 new affordable homes each year to keep pace with its growing number of tenants.
But their SNP successors have failed to keep pace, the watchdog said, with 14,000 fewer affordable homes built in the last eight years than the projected population needed.
Funding for housing fell by around a quarter between 2008 and the year ending 2012, with further cuts to come.
Audit Scotland also found that the number of new private homes being built has fallen by more than 50 per cent since its 2007/08 high before the economic crisis took hold.
The SNP cabinet set its own target of 6,000 new affordable homes a year in 2011, but even that has been failing.
The report noted an 18 per cent drop in social housing construction projects started in the 12 months to March - just 2,781 homes compared to 3,391 in the previous year.
And work was begun on just 1,161 council houses, roughly one for every 135 households on council waiting lists.
Housing charity Shelter Scotland's policy officer Gordon MacRae called the report a "timely reminder" of the current housing crisis.
"The report clearly shows that action is required now to meet the challenge of a collapse in availability of new homes and the spiralling demands of Scotland's ageing and increasingly single households," he said.
In 2005 a Labour-Lib Dem coalition government found Scotland needed more than 8,000 new affordable homes each year to keep pace with its growing number of tenants.
But their SNP successors have failed to keep pace, the watchdog said, with 14,000 fewer affordable homes built in the last eight years than the projected population needed.
Funding for housing fell by around a quarter between 2008 and the year ending 2012, with further cuts to come.
Audit Scotland also found that the number of new private homes being built has fallen by more than 50 per cent since its 2007/08 high before the economic crisis took hold.
The SNP cabinet set its own target of 6,000 new affordable homes a year in 2011, but even that has been failing.
The report noted an 18 per cent drop in social housing construction projects started in the 12 months to March - just 2,781 homes compared to 3,391 in the previous year.
And work was begun on just 1,161 council houses, roughly one for every 135 households on council waiting lists.
Housing charity Shelter Scotland's policy officer Gordon MacRae called the report a "timely reminder" of the current housing crisis.
"The report clearly shows that action is required now to meet the challenge of a collapse in availability of new homes and the spiralling demands of Scotland's ageing and increasingly single households," he said.
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