Kezia Dugdale has pledged to give the next generation the same opportunity to buy a house as her parents had.
The Scottish Labour leader said "Scotland's housing crisis" has forced people to turn to "rip-off rents" levied by private landlords.
She said: "I want the next generation to have the same opportunity to buy their own home that my parent's generation had, but too often people are being forced into the private rental sector and facing sky-high rip-off rents. We can't go on like this."
Labour will build 60,000 affordable homes, including 45,000 for rent by councils, housing associations and co-operatives, cap rents and double support for people saving for a deposit, paid for by taxing the rich.
Ms Dugdale added: "We can make these pledges because we are being honest about how we pay for them.
"In this election the choice is Labour investment or SNP and Tory cuts. If people want change, then they have to vote Labour to deliver it.
"Faced with the choice between using the powers of the Scottish Parliament to invest in the future of our economy or carrying on with the cuts, Labour will use the powers to stop the cuts."
The number of Scottish households renting privately has increased by 72% since the SNP came to power in 2007, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.
House prices saw their biggest slump since at least 2003 in the three months to March 2016 - falling 8.4% on the previous year and outstripping price cuts seen during the financial crisis, Registers of Scotland said this week.
Separate data from ONS bellwether Nationwide shows Scottish houses cost 2.5 times median earnings in 1983, shortly after Ms Dugdale was born, peaked at 4.1 times in 2007 and have since cooled to 3.3.
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