MSPs and sector bodies call for action a year after housing emergency declaration in Scotland

The Scottish housing committee and industry bodies have called on the government to take action a year on from its declaration of a housing emergency.

Under pressure from campaigners and opposition parties, the devolved administration declared an emergency situation on 15 May 2024, which was followed by seven local authorities doing likewise.

A year on, the Scottish Parliament’s local government, housing and planning committee has warned that the emergency could “drift on indefinitely”.

A report published on Thursday urged the government to establish a Housing Emergency Action Plan with clear milestones and outcomes that would ensure progress could be properly assessed.

A total of ten recommendations were made in its housing inquiry report, including that the government urgently complete and implement its review of the affordable housing target and that it assist the non-profit sector to obtain private finance.

It is one of ten recommendations for the Scottish Government made in the Committee’s Housing Inquiry Report.

“It’s now a year since the Scottish Parliament officially declared a national housing emergency and homelessness remains dangerously high in some areas where there is now a systemic failure in the ability of local authorities to meet their statutory duties,” said committee convener Ariane Burgess, a Scottish Green Party MSP.

“During this Inquiry, we heard that the housing emergency was years, even decades, in the making and was therefore both predictable and preventable.

“We can’t afford to be complacent. The Scottish Government must work with the wider housing sector to take urgent collective action to address the emergency and ensure all its departments and policies are having a measurable, clear and positive impact.”

On the same day, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations published a policy paper which called on the government to recongise the role of housing associations in reducing housingwaitlist pressures.

It called for long-term tenancy sustainment support for housing associations, to fund activities that prevent people becoming homeless, as well as a new ‘last resort’ grant fund and a review of funding for housing support.

“Housing associations are working tirelessly to support tenants, but without the right investment and a long-term view, the system is under unsustainable pressure,” said Annabel Pidgeon, policy lead at SFHA.

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“If we want to prevent homelessness rather than just respond to it, we must prioritise support services and give our housing sector the confidence to meet diverse needs and plan for the future.”

Meanwhile, a group of councils and housing organisations in the South of Scotland have published research which showed that a shortage of the right homes in the region were having an impact on key worker recruitment and retention in Dumfries & Galloway and the Scottish Borders.

A major element of the devolved government agenda to tackle the housing crisis is its Housing (Scotland) Bill, which proposes among other things to introduce rent controls to parts of the country. 

Earlier this week, SNP and Labour members on the local government, housing and planning committee voted in support of a version of the bill in which rent increases would be linked to CPI+1%, up to a maximum of 6%.

An amendment proposed by the Scottish Greens, which argued that rent rises should be no more than increases in the cost-of-living or wages, was blocked.

The bill, which is at stage 2 of the legislative process, is still being considered by the committee.