Housing organisations deliver 'Declaration for Homes'
15 September 2009
Housing and homelessness organisations have delivered a 'Declaration for Homes' to Finance Secretary John Swinney as he prepares to publish the Scottish Government's draft budget for 2010/11.
The declaration calls for housing to be a top priority in the upcoming Scottish Budget, and is supported by the results of a new poll, which reveals that 84 per cent of people across Scotland think building more affordable housing to rent should be a top priority.
Graeme Brown, Director of Shelter Scotland said: 'Resources are tight but housing ticks all the right boxes: housing people who desperately need a home, providing a fiscal stimulus, sustaining jobs, and helping to meet the 2012 homelessness commitment. There has never been a more urgent time for a 'Budget for Homes'.'
Shelter Scotland was joined in delivering the declaration by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Scottish Council for Single Homeless and Scottish Churches Housing Action.
A Declaration for Homes:
We call on the Scottish Ministers to make homes the number one priority in the Scottish Budget by funding 10,000 new affordable homes to rent in 2010/2011.
A home for all is a moral, economic and social priority that cannot be ignored.
We have a moral obligation to end bad housing and homelessness. 10,000 new affordable homes to rent each year can help meet the needs of the thousands of people homeless or on waiting lists in every community across the Scotland.
Investment in housing makes economic sense.
£650 million of direct investment could release £331 million in private finance which together would sustain around 16,000 jobs next year directly in the development process or indirectly in the supplier industries.
New homes will lead to better communities and help address the social problems that exist in Scotland.
Children living in bad housing are twice as likely to be excluded from school and a BMA study showed that housing deprivation is as bad a risk to health as smoking, and worse than excessive alcohol consumption. The time is now to make housing Scotland’s top priority and make the 2010/2011 budget a ‘Budget for Homes’.
