Plan for disruptive protest targeting FM offices over housing crisis

The plan of action is understood to include staging protests inside and outside Humza Yousaf's offices in Govan.

Also expected to be targeted is the Scottish Parliament and First Minister's Questions.

READ MORE: Builders warn of Scots home affordability crisis and homelessness rise

The demonstrations are drawing parallels to moves to occupy the Scottish Power headquarters and other high profile buildings across the UK in protest against rising energy bills and "sky-rocketing" levels of fuel poverty.

It comes after a key Scottish Government bid to help end a housing and homelessness crisis suffered a "scandalous" hit with its annual budget slashed by £360m over the past two years.

Concerns have emerged that the key Scottish Government pledge to deliver 110,000 social and affordable homes by 2032 has been delivered a "fatal blow" by the cuts.

The More Homes budget plans, which covers the Scottish Government's affordable housing supply programme is to take a cumulative hit of over half a billion pounds over two years - based against the 2022/23 allocation of £740.089m.

Worries about how the Scottish Government is tackling the housing crisis have emerged after what housing campaigners say is a "staggering" £188.8m (33%) cut to the budget in the past year alone with the spending plans for 2024/25 set at £375.8m.

The affordable homes plan set out by Nicola Sturgeon in a Programme for Government in 2021 to "build on our investment in housing" had already seen its budget cut by £175.5m in 2023/24 dropping by some 24% in a year.

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.

Four local authorities have declared a housing emergency - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Argyll and Bute and this week Fife.

Glasgow cited "unprecedented pressures" after the Home Office planned to make around 2,500 batched asylum decisions in Glasgow by the end of this year, which the council would cost them more than £53m.

READ MORE: Anger as cuts to Scots affordable homes revealed

The First Minister has been sent the warning over the action in a letter from the STO which said: "Your cuts will drive many thousands of social and private rented tenants into homelessness and destitution.

"The extent of these cuts are astonishing in that your Government will decimate the capital element of the housing budget... To blame Westminster as the Scottish Government always do, does not add up on this occasion.

"If you do not reverse your current course of action immediately we will engage with other protest groups in a campaign of peaceful non violent direct action against the Scottish Government over the days and months to come on this issue."

Only action from the government could prevent a "housing and homeless catastrophe which we have been warning about for years which the Scottish Government has perpetrated through the silent violence of inaction, indifference and slow ebbing decay causing thousands of working class people including tenants to lives of penury and destitution".

Shelter Scotland has warned ministers that without the delivery of affordable homes the housing emergency is "only going to get worse with more people trapped in temporary accommodation for longer".

Across Scotland an average of 24% of Scotland’s children were in poverty - amounting to 250,000.

That remains well above the levels set out in the Child Poverty Act 2017, which sets mandatory targets of reducing child poverty to 18% by next year and 10 per cent by 2030.

Scottish Labour say briefing notes from housing minister Paul McLennan’s meetings in December, admit that the delivery of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 "is at risk” and say a review is being held into the “timeline for delivery”.

When launching the homes plan three years ago, the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said at least 70% of the 110,000 social and affordable homes to be built will be for social rent. She said in the Programme for Government: "We will build on our investment in housing over the previous session, to further improve the availability of good quality, affordable, energy efficient homes."

She said the Scottish Government would invest almost £3.5bn in this parliamentary session - which is due to end in 2026. In the first four years of the five-year session ministers have put a total of £2.428m into the More Homes budget.

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator for the STO said: "We will as an organisation engage with other protest groups in non-violent direct action against the Scottish Government unless they reverse the cuts and build thousands of much needed new social rented homes, bring back into circulation many of the estimated 93,000 empty homes and convert the empty public buildings and disused office and shopping units into homes for the homeless.

"We will not accept the deliberate impoverishment of our tenants by the neo liberal policies of the Scottish Government in the 21st century when we live in a nation that is wealthy in terms of income and wealth for those at the top of society.

"If he doesn't change the tune with an emergency statement we will conduct a programme of non-violent direct action in relation to the housing crisis. That means going to his offices in Govan. The protests are aimed at making the political class feel uncomfortable.

"We don't want to engage in this. We just want a statement before the Easter recess to restore the cuts in the budget. Unless he does that there will be this action. "

The current First Minister Humza Yousaf in his first "unapologetically anti-poverty and pro-growth" Programme for Government in September remained "committed" to the 110,000 affordable homes delivery.

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.

Housing minister Paul McLennan said: “We are absolutely determined to cut homelessness and improve the supply of social and affordable housing. Scotland has delivered more than 126,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 70% of which were for social rent. My officials and I meet regularly with local authorities on their housing plans.

“Despite cuts to our budget, the Scottish Government continues to invest heavily to support housing supply – and the latest full year figures show Scotland is delivering far more good quality, secure and affordable homes per person than any other part of the UK. Our investment in the Scottish Empty Homes partnership has helped to bring more than 9,000 empty homes back into use.

“The UK Government’s Spring Budget failed to deliver any additional funding for capital spending and we still face a £1.3 billion cut in our capital block grant over five years. We will provide a further update on the Scottish Budget for 2024-25 next month.”