Scottish government under fire as housing crisis deepens

A housing charity has accused the Scottish government of “gaslighting” the Scottish public on social housing.

Shelter Scotland has claimed the “gaslighting” refers to the Scottish government breaking rules relating to duties towards homeless households and misleading the public on figures related to social housing.

The row comes after a vote was passed on the 2024-2025 Scottish budget which cut services to the affordable housing supply programme.

Scottish government’s strategies for housing and homelessness are failing

According to Shelter Scotland, new figures reveal a sharp increase in instances of “gatekeeping,” where households in need of temporary accommodation are not provided with a place.

Between April 1st and September 30th, 2023, there were 1,575 reported cases, marking a staggering 1,400% rise compared to the previous six months.

The figures also reveal 2,335 breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order between 1st April and 30th September 2023 – a 19% increase compared to the previous six months.

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, said: “The Scottish government’s strategies for housing and homelessness are failing and any attempt to say otherwise is starting to feel like an attempt to gaslight the Scottish public.

“The Scottish government can’t claim to be determined to fight poverty while presiding over record homelessness, repeatedly deprioritising housing in its spending choices, and ploughing ahead with a strategy which today’s figures once again clearly show isn’t working.

“Local authorities are breaking the law on an industrial scale every day and yet there’s no new plans, no new money, and no new leadership to meet the scale of the emergency.”

People in Scotland are being denied their housing rights

New figures reveal a record-breaking surge in the number of households living in temporary accommodation across Scotland. A record 15,625 households are currently in temporary accommodation in Scotland.

The charity is calling on councils and Scottish Ministers to declare a housing emergency and implement a new emergency plan to reduce the number of people in temporary accommodation.

Shelter Scotland has also warned that continuing with the existing strategies will only result in more of the same and called for a new national housing emergency plan that prioritises people’s rights and increasing the number of homes for social rent.

Ms Watson adds: “People in Scotland are being denied their housing rights as a matter of course. Indeed, there’s good reason to believe based on the clients we’ve supported that these figures underestimate the true extent of the problem.

“It’s hard to imagine any other area of the law where the Scottish government would tolerate such flagrant and frequent law breaking but that’s what is happening when it comes to housing.

“The ongoing housing emergency in Scotland was not inevitable, it is a result of poor political choices and serious mismanagement across every tier of government. Anyone who backed that budget can’t expect to be taken seriously in the future when they claim they’re fighting homelessness.”

Focused on dealing with housing crisis

Scottish Housing Minister Paul McLennan told Scottish Housing News: “These figures are sobering and demonstrate the challenge we face in tackling homelessness, which has been made worse by UK government’s Local Housing Allowance Freeze, cuts to the Scottish government’s budget and the bedroom tax.

“Despite this, Scotland continues to have the strongest rights anywhere in the UK for anyone who becomes homeless, but we are determined to ensure no one need become homeless in the first place and ensure people can stay in their homes.

“I regularly engage with Scotland’s local authorities and work with them find solutions to the housing pressures they are facing. The Scottish government is doing all it can by making record funding available to councils of more than £14 billion in 2024-25 – a real-terms increase of 4.3% compared with the previous year. This includes £30.5m to local authorities to support their work to prevent homelessness, plus £90.5m to spend on discretionary housing payments. We are also investing £100m in the multi-year ending homelessness together fund.”

He adds the emergency rent cap helped protect tenants during the cost-of-living crisis.

He said: “The figures show the introduction of emergency legislation to protect tenants during the cost of living crisis has likely reduced the number of private renters from becoming homeless. When the emergency legislation comes to an end from 31 March we have outlined proposals to continue to give tenants stronger rights than anywhere else in the UK.

“As part of our £752m Affordable Housing Supply Programme we are investing at least £60m in 2023-24 to enable local authorities and registered social landlords to identify properties to acquire for use as high quality, affordable, permanent homes. We are working closely with them to maximise delivery by the end of this financial year.”

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