Housing coalition urges Scottish Government to ‘change course’ ahead of housing emergency statement

Posted Thursday 20th June by Admin User

SFHA and partners set out action needed to address the housing emergency. 

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A coalition of leading housing and anti-poverty organisations, including SFHA, has called on the Scottish Government to ‘change course’ ahead of a ministerial statement on the housing emergency at Holyrood later today.  

In an open letter to the First Minister, the coalition acknowledged that the Scottish Government’s Housing to 2040 and Ending Homelessness Together strategies set out ambitious aims but warned both plans had been ‘fatally undermined’ by spending cuts at Holyrood and Westminster, an absence of accountability for delivery, and a lack of political will to fund a shift away from crisis intervention and towards prevention-based work.  

The open letter states that the coalition have ‘no confidence’ existing structures can deliver unless the First Minister is willing to change course. The organisations are asking for an urgent meeting with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to discuss how they can reduce the number of children in temporary accommodation by the end of this Parliament in 2026. 

The letter was accompanied by an action plan, which sets out what’s needed – with urgently funding the social homes needed as the main action. 

SFHA Chief Executive, Sally Thomas said:   

“We’ve come together because we know that decisive action needs to be taken now – and there are clear and unequivocal solutions to this emergency.  

“First and foremost, the Scottish Government urgently needs to increase the supply of new social homes. This can only start by fully reversing successive hammer-blow cuts to the affordable homes programme and showing an iron-clad commitment to publicly funding social homes.  

“This plan provides the path out of the housing emergency, so I’d urge the Scottish Government to step up and take the lead on delivering it.   

“Scotland’s housing emergency is the defining issue of our times. We’re simply asking you to not let Scotland down.”  

Notes to editors 

The coalition comprises: 

  • Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers 
  • Chartered Institute of Housing 
  • Homes for Scotland 
  • Joseph Rowntree Foundation 
  • Scottish Federation of Housing Associations 
  • Shelter Scotland