10,000 back call for Humza Yousaf to declare housing emergency

More than 10,000 have signed an open letter demanding that the First Minister declare a housing emergency and deliver an action plan to end it.

Shelter Scotland presented the letter and full list of signatories to the Scottish Government at its headquarters at St Andrews House on Monday.

The housing and homelessness charity is calling on Humza Yousaf to acknowledge the ongoing housing emergency in Scotland.

The handover marks a year since a Scottish Government task group submitted its recommendations on how to reduce the use of temporary accommodation and the length of time homeless households were required to stay there.

Edinburgh & East

‘Ten-year waiting list for a new home, I’ll probably be dead by then’

Kirsty Moore has a chronic illness but isn’t considered to be in housing need under current rules.

The signatures were presented by Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson and Stacey Grieve, a client of the charity.

Stacey has been homeless for nine years and lives in temporary accommodation with her six-year-old son – he is one of the 9,595 children in Scotland currently living in temporary accommodation.

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said: “Scotland is in a housing emergency and, whether he accepts it or not, it’s getting worse on the First Minister’s watch.

“In the year since the Scottish Government was given recommendations on how to tackle the enormous over reliance on temporary accommodation, we’ve had a lot of warm words but no action.

“I was honoured to co-chair the group which delivered those recommendations, one of which was that the Scottish Government should buy and build more social homes.

Explainer

Why should we care about Scotland’s housing emergency?

Councils say funding and legislative change is crucial in order to help them respond to current challenges.

“Instead, the housing budget has been targeted for brutal cuts.

“Ministers have made a choice; they’ve chosen to let the housing emergency continue to deteriorate and they’ve chosen to accept the fact that more and more children will have nowhere to call home.

“The 10,000 people who’ve signed our open letter won’t tolerate this, they won’t stand by while 45 children on average become homeless every single day in Scotland, and they won’t accept continued inaction from the First Minister.”

Stacey Grieve added: “I’m not just here for myself, I’m here for every single homeless person in Edinburgh, across Scotland, and around the world.”

Edinburgh Council, alongside local authorities in Glasgow and Argyll and Bute, have declared a housing emergency due to a lack of suitable homes.

They say they are no longer able to meet their basic housing obligations and need urgent help from both the Scottish and UK governments.

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “The Scottish Government has led the UK in housing by delivering more than 126,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 89,000 of which were for social rent, including almost 24,000 council homes. We will invest £556 million in affordable housing in 2024-25, the majority of which will be for social rent.

“The UK Government failed to inflation-proof their capital budget, and this has resulted in nearly a 10% real terms cut in our UK capital funding between 2023-24 and 2027-28. This is on top of the disastrous impact Brexit has had on construction supply chain issues, labour shortages and the inflationary pressures driven by UK Government financial mismanagement.

“We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and to support that we will bring forward the review scheduled for 2026-27 to 2024, which will concentrate on deliverability. We are working with the financial community in Scotland, and elsewhere, to boost private sector investment and help deliver more homes.”