Ministers have no plan to arrest social housing decline say Shelter Scotland

A leading housing and homelessness charity has claimed the Scottish Government has no plan to arrest the continued decline in social housing delivery.

Shelter Scotland made the claim today in response to figures showing that social house building has slowed down significantly.

The numbers show the number of new social homes completed in the 12 months to September 2023 was down 2%, the number new social homes approved was down 18%, while the number of new homes started was down an alarming 29% compared to the year before.

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said:

“The alarming decline in the delivery of social homes shown in today’s figures reflects Scottish Government choices.

“Ministers can’t claim to be ignorant of what this means; it means that an already devastating housing emergency will get worse and continue to devastate lives. 

“Local housing officers, charities, and the experts in its own working groups have repeatedly and clearly told the Scottish Government that more social homes are needed to effectively fight the housing emergency and reduce the numbers of people trapped in temporary accommodation, but their words have gone unheeded. 

“Scottish Government choices made the decline shown in today’s figures grimly predictable.

“Unless we see something different in next week’s budget the only possible conclusion we can reach is that the Scottish Government has no serious plan to tackle homelessness and end the housing emergency.”