More investment for more Housing debate briefing September 2016

Shelter Scotland welcomes this debate on More investment for more housing and welcomes the commitment from the Scottish Government to build a further 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of the next parliament, 35,000 of which will be socially rented housing. However, we do not think this should be the limit of ambition for house building.

There are over 150,000 households on council waiting lists, over 10,000 households stuck in temporary accommodation and nearly 30,000 people assessed as homeless last year - that means every 20 minutes a household becomes homeless in Scotland. It is clear that we are in a housing crisis and that the supply of affordable housing must be a top priority for both Scottish Government and local authorities.

Building enough affordable housing is essential but not the end of the story. For any programme of affordable housing supply to be effective in its primary aim of ensuring a safe and affordable home for everyone, it should support a new cross-departmental National Homelessness Strategy to focus on preventing and tackling homelessness in Scotland. Our Homelessness: Far From Fixed campaign is calling for a national homelessness strategy and the policy report can be found on our website.