Ministers' heads still in the sand on homelessness says Shelter Scotland.

Ministers' heads still in the sand on homelessness says Shelter Scotland. 

Ministers still have their heads in the sand, claims leading housing and homelessness charity, following the publication of the latest Ending Homelessness Together annual report. 

Shelter Scotland said the report once again shows the Scottish Government has failed to grasp the scale of the housing emergency and doesn’t have an adequate plan to deal with it.  

The charity has been campaigning for the Scottish Government to formally declare a housing emergency, backed up with a comprehensive action plan to fix the country’s broken and biased housing system.  

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said: 

“An emergency situation demands an emergency response, but this report suggests ministers still have their heads in the sand. 

“It looks back on a year in which the Scottish Government has overseen a huge increase in the number of people becoming homeless, when the number of kids stuck in temporary accommodation hit record levels, and it offers no indication that next year will be any better. 

“It celebrates the housing minister ‘raising public awareness’ of homelessness – we are well beyond the point where that’s something worthy of applause. 

“His job isn’t to raise awareness of homelessness; his job is to end it. 

“Across Scotland people are suffering through this housing emergency, this report is a harsh reminder that their government don’t understand what they’re going through and aren’t prepared to take action to fix it. 

“We don’t need more well-meaning tweets from politicians and government; we need to see a concrete plan for immediate action.”