'Not enough': Billions needed to tackle Scots housing emergency

And in the wake of the Scottish Government making a symbolic housing emergency declaration, the key housing professionals group has said that while it is a start, it is not enough as a key Scottish Government funding bid to end the crisis lost more than £300m over the past two years alone.

Callum Chomczuk, national director of CIH Scotland said that even reversing the cuts in the affordable homes budget will not be enough to solve the crisis and deliver a key Scottish Government target to deliver 110,000 social and affordable homes by 2032.

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"The declaration is just the start. They recognise it is a housing emergency, but that doesn't solve it.

"We need the government to deliver and fundamentally this requires money. We need to address the housing emergency, and that means delivering and ultimately building more social and affordable homes. It must come from the public purse.

"It needs to be a political priority. Since the budget, housing has not been a priority."

The head of the Scottish wing of CIH, which has a royal charter and has more than 17,000 members, mostly in the UK but also overseas, added: "What we need is to re-find that sense of prioritisation and that housing is the single biggest thing we are facing.

"I am not saying we will address this overnight, but absolutely if we have the political priority and funding to match it, then we can deliver affordable homes.

"We were looking for more money in the last budget not less and rolling back [the cuts] only takes us back to where we were. It doesn't come close to [what is needed] for the cost of delivering the 110,000 homes.

"It needs hundreds of millions more a year, and billions over the course of a 10 year programme."

The housing emergency declaration was made by social justice secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville during a Labour-led debate at Holyrood and ministers have cited UK government austerity, inflation labour shortages linked to Brexit and a freeze to local housing allowance rates for the the situation.

But UK ministers said that the Scottish government receives about 25% more funding from Whitehall than other parts of the UK.

The SNP previously voted against a Labour motion declaring a housing emergency in November.

By declaring the emergency, the Scottish government is said to be formally recognising the housing problem but there are no practical effects that happen as a result.

But First Minister John Swinney warned: “We have to recognise that the government does not have a limitless amount of money and we can’t invest everything if our capital budget is being reduced by the UK government.”

Ms Somerville said that a "joint approach" between Holyrood, Westminster and local authorities would be needed to combat housing problems.

She said she would use all the powers at her disposal to try and address the housing situation, which she called "one of the defining issues of a generation".

The Scottish Government's affordable homes has taken a cumulative hit of over £300m over the past two years - based against the 2022/23 allocation of £831.445m - despite the a pledge by outgoing First Minister Humza Yousaf of a £80m uplift for affordable housing over the next two years.

Housing campaigners have been staggered by a £196.08m (26%) cut to the budget in the past year alone, without taking into account inflation, with the spending plans for 2024/25 set at £555.862m before the extra money promised by the First Minister.

If the budget had kept up with inflation in 2024/25, the spending plans would have been at £985.25m.

Without taking into account inflation, the shortfall against 2022/23 is at £315.08m.

When inflation has been taken into account, instead of getting £2.723bn over the three years - the affordable homes budget is at £2.179bn.

The affordable homes plan set out by Nicola Sturgeon in a Programme for Government in 2021 aimed to "build on our investment in housing".

And Mr Yousaf in announcing the new money added: “Housing is essential in our efforts to tackle child poverty and reduce inequality across Scotland, and it supports jobs and growth in the economy.

“Providing good quality, affordable housing is at the very core of what my Government is doing to make Scotland a better place.

“While there is a single person homeless in our country, it is simply not acceptable to have houses sitting empty – so I am determined that we remove the barriers and provide the money that will enable councils to buy properties so they can become affordable homes again."

The emergency declaration has come while the number of affordable homes being approved for build has slumped.

As of December, Scotland has been averaging 633 affordable housing starts a month since setting the target. To meet a 110,000 homes target they have to deliver at an average of 894 homes a month.

This is set against the number of open homelessness applications in Scotland soaring by 30% since the pandemic began - from 22,754 in March, 2020, to 29,652 in 2022/23. The homeless household numbers being forced into temporary accommodation - like hotels and bed and breakfasts - rather than settled homes has shot up from 11,807 to 15,039.

And four local authorities have declared a symbolic housing emergency - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Argyll and Bute and Fife - all citing shortages of affordable housing.

Crisis, the national charity for people experiencing homelessness said it hoped the declaration would help bring about the cross-party support needed to "make the homelessness prevention agenda in Scotland a reality".

Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, said: "We need long term political commitments to radically reform the housing and homeless system from being about managing a crisis, to a system that acts early to prevent homelessness from arising in the first place.

"Declaring a national housing emergency is an important moment in time, but it’s the actions that come from this that will matter the most. Investing in housing and reforming the homelessness system to better prevent homelessness should be top of the list. We can’t afford to wait.”

The Society of Local Authority Chief Executives, in a July analysis, said that the supply of affordable homes has fallen 20% in three years and "shows no sign of recovering".

They say at least 125,000 homes for social rent were needed simply to satisfy existing demand.

Its July analysis revealed that 243,603 people are currently on the waiting list for social housing, but only 26,102 allocations were made across the entire country.

Official data shows the overall number of affordable homes being started for build including for rent in the social sector has dropped to the lowest annual level for eight years. Some 6,302 affordable homes were begun in the year to the end of September as part of an official programme - but that is a 24% drop (1,996 homes) on the 7,159 started in the last annual analysis.

Some 6,178 homes were given the nod for grant funding in the year to the end of September as part of the Affordable Housing Supply Programme - down by 14% (981 homes) on the 7159 approved in the previous year and the lowest equivalent annual figure since 2013.

Sector body Homes for Scotland (HFS), which represents organisations delivering the majority of the country’s new homes, has asked that political leadership "demonstrates a move from a position of blame to one of solution and change". 

They said regulatory reform is now required to increase the supply of new homes across all tenures, as well as reversing the devastating cuts to the housing and building standards Budget.

HFS chief executive Jane Wood said: “Unless the Scottish Government provides an emergency response that urgently addresses the shortfalls within the housing budget and the existing policy and regulatory constraints that serve only to restrict new housing supply across all tenures, today’s declaration of a national housing emergency will be no more than a symbolic gesture.”

“With over a quarter of all Scottish households in some form of housing need and housing starts and completions across all tenures in freefall, recycling the same tired excuses that Brexit, cost price inflation and Westminster are the main drivers of the housing crisis just doesn’t cut it.

“Whilst these are of course significant issues, Scotland’s population and the sector that provides homes for our communities deserve better. The Government must now forensically look at the solutions and take the actions required to address the systemic underfunding of the planning system alongside a swift review of existing and forthcoming housing policy to ensure Scotland has a housing system equipped to deliver homes across all tenures."