Scottish government is declaring a national housing emergency – but what does it actually mean?

The Scottish government is set to declare a national housing emergency across Scotland just a week after John Swinney was named first minister.

Ministers sounded the alarm on Wednesday (15 May) after a Labour motion risked forcing a Holyrood vote that could have seen Swinney suffer his first defeat since taking over from Humza Yousaf.

The government has been under growing pressure to declare a housing emergency after five local authorities, including Edinburgh and Glasgow councils, made similar pleas for support in the face of rising homelessness. A further eight local authorities are also reportedly at risk of falling into systematic failure.

Around 15,000 households are living in temporary accommodation in Scotland, including 10,000 children, with figures rising 10% in the space of just a year. Official figures also showed the number of people sleeping rough is on the rise, with a 23% increase in the number of people making applications to councils who had slept rough the night before.

Social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville, leading the debate, said: “We will continue to do everything we can with the powers at our disposal to make progress – but truly tackling the housing emergency will rely on a joint approach between UK, Scottish and local government.”

Declaring national emergency has been welcomed by homelessness and housing charities but the government has been warned it must be followed up with action.

While the declaration shows intent and a commitment to fix the housing crisis in Scotland, it is not backed up with any increased funding or policies to help people who are suffering.

Shelter Scotland, who issued an open letter to MSPs earlier in the week calling for them to declare the emergency, said the move is a first step that must be accompanied with a housing emergency action plan.

The charity said ministers must reverse the £200m cut to the affordable housing budget announced at the last financial statement.

The Shelter plan also called for ministers to buy and build at least 38,500 social homes during the current parliament to help families in temporary accommodation and fully funding local homelessness services.

The government should also target funding at local authorities on the basis of need rather than population to ensure the money reaches the areas that need it most.

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: “I’m delighted to see that there is cross-party support for the deceleration of a housing emergency; this could be an important moment in the fight for housing justice in Scotland.

“We recognise that there are a range of factors driving the housing emergency; more than a decade of austerity, a cost of living crisis, and cuts to the social housing budget in Scotland have all contributed.

“It’s vital that politicians back their words with actions; I call on all parties across Holyrood to work together to urgently deliver the social homes we so desperately need, to ensure that people can keep the homes they have, and to finally bring this devastating housing emergency to an end.”

Crisis also urged ministers to push ahead with plans including in the upcoming Housing Bill to strengthen the law to help people with unstable housing.

The charity said a new, radical, cross-government prevention agenda is also needed to prevent people from falling into homelessness in the first place.

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: “By declaring a national housing emergency, the Scottish government can help bring about the cross-party support needed to make the homelessness prevention agenda in Scotland a reality.

“We need long-term political commitments to radically reform the housing and homeless system from being about managing a crisis, to a system that acts early to prevent homelessness from arising in the first place.

“Housing has a critical role to play in this. We know what causes homelessness, and we know how to end it. Declaring a national housing emergency is an important moment in time, but it’s the actions that come from this that will matter the most. Investing in housing and reforming the homelessness system to better prevent homelessness should be top of the list. We can’t afford to wait.”

Housing policy has been a devolved matter in Scotland for 25 years, but the Scottish independence-seeking SNP said Westminster policies were partly to blame.

An amendment to the Labour motion from housing minister Paul McLennan said the current situation “is due to a combination of factors outside the Scottish government’s powers”.

McLennan cited UK government austerity policies, soaring inflation and the increased cost of living, labour shortages following Brexit and the freeze to local housing allowance rates among the factors.

He said the Scottish government will invest £600m in affordable housing and £90m in discretionary housing payments in 2024-25. McLennan added that the Housing Bill will introduce rent controls to tackle rising rent levels and the continued government focus will be on delivering 110,000 affordable homes.

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