New housing agency must help deliver social homes at the scale Scotland needs to tackle homelessness, Shelter Scotland warns

Every year Scotland fails to build enough social homes, more people are pushed into homelessness, and more children are forced to grow up in temporary accommodation. With 10,480 children currently living in temporary accommodation, Shelter Scotland is calling for reducing affordable housing need to be at the heart of the Scottish Government's new More Homes Scotland agency.

New research by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE), commissioned by Shelter Scotland, highlights the opportunity for More Homes Scotland to remove barriers to housing delivery and increase affordable housing supply, while stressing the need for clarity about the agency's purpose, priorities and measures of success. The report identifies a key question for policymakers: whether the agency's primary objective is reducing affordable housing need or increasing housing supply across all tenures. The authors emphasis that they would prioritise tackling the housing emergency's considerable unmet affordable need.

Shelter Scotland agrees and says the answer must be clear. Research shows Scotland needs at least 15,693 affordable homes each year to start reducing housing need. Success can be measured by fewer people facing homelessness and fewer children waking up without a home. Building the social homes people need should become a national mission shared across government, local authorities and the housing sector.

Senior figures from across the housing sector are coming together at a sold-out event on 22 July to explore how the new More Homes Scotland agency can reduce affordable housing need and tackle the housing emergency.

Professor Kenneth Gibb, Director of CaCHE and lead author of the report, said: "There is strong support across the housing sector for the principle of More Homes Scotland, but our research found that important decisions remain to be made about its purpose, powers and priorities.

“The agency needs a clear mission, strong partnerships and the ability to tackle barriers relating to land, infrastructure, planning and investment. Only then can it make a meaningful contribution to housing delivery and addressing affordable housing need."

Shelter Scotland Interim Director Gordon Llewellyn-MacRae said:

“Every year we fail to build enough social homes; more people are pushed into homelessness. For many, that can mean years without the stability of a permanent home and real harm to children's wellbeing, education and future opportunities. The longer we wait, the harder it becomes to reverse that damage.

"The housing emergency is not inevitable. It is the result of decades of underinvestment and failing to build enough of the homes people need, where they need them. Building the social homes Scotland needs must now become a national mission.

“More Homes Scotland has the opportunity to help change that trajectory. The test for the new agency is clear: does it help more people find a safe, secure and affordable home? To get those children out of temporary accommodation, we need more homes, more quickly. With the right funding, powers and focus, More Homes Scotland can help deliver the homes Scotland desperately needs.”