Shelter Scotland welcomes STUC housing emergency declaration

Shelter Scotland has welcomed today's declaration of a housing emergency by the Scottish Trade Union Congress.

The motion at the trade union body’s annual congress highlights the shortage of social housing, the out-of-control cost of rent in the private sector, and the continued failure of local homelessness services to meet their obligations.

The STUC join four Scottish councils and the Chartered Institute of Housing in declaring a housing emergency and calling on the Scottish Government to drive up investment in social housing and properly fund local services.

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said:

“I’m delighted that today the trade union movement has acknowledged the housing emergency and called for action from politicians. 

“Cuts to the housing budget provoked widespread dismay because people recognise that the housing emergency is devastating communities right across the country.

“Decades of poor political choices and chronic underinvestment in social housing are the root cause the current situation and the only way to get us out it is to reverse that trend. 

“Fundamentally, the fight against poverty and homelessness can’t be won if we don’t fix our broken and biased housing system and do that, we need social homes.

“It’s time for our politicians to accept that if they want to build a fairer Scotland, they need to build social homes.”