Shelter Scotland urge new FM to tackle housing emergency with dedicated housing minister

Ahead of the announcement of the new leader of the SNP and ultimately the new First Minister of Scotland, Shelter Scotland is urging the winning candidate to give housing a seat at the Cabinet table by appointing a new Cabinet-level minister focused entirely on housing and homelessness.

Scotland’s housing emergency is now beyond critical, with record numbers of children living in temporary accommodation. With funding for new social homes slashed by 16% in the most recent budget, the charity says that the Scottish Government must get serious about winning the fight against homelessness and ensure it has a Cabinet Secretary who is able to give housing the attention it needs and deserves.

Throughout the leadership race the candidates had very little to say about housing and homelessness.

Our Director Alison Watson, said: 

“The candidates’ relative silence on housing issues is of huge concern and could have disastrous consequences for the fight against homelessness if nothing is done.

“The cuts made by the Scottish Government recently will condemn previous social housing commitments to the bin, perpetuate a broken housing system and set the new First Minister up to fail on homelessness. That none of the candidates have expressed any concern about the hand they have been dealt, or a willingness to change direction is ominous. 

“The only way to fix our broken and biased housing system is by delivering more social housing. The new First Minister must recognise the scale of the housing emergency they are inheriting and commit to helping the 9,130 children in Scotland without somewhere to call home.”