Scotland’s housing crisis must be a concern to us all
IN ONE hostel, 90 tenants have access to a shared microwave.
The last time I spoke to a man who was living there, the microwave had been broken for three days.
The occupants have no access to a cooker and breakfast is often a slice of white bread with margarine.
People are put up in small rooms, sharing space with terrified strangers or with addicts. They are kicked out at 9am each morning with nowhere to go.
These hostels are no places for women, in particular. One young woman told how she was staying in a hostel where most of the residents were men. She was sharing a filthy bathroom for up to 14 people.
This is not in some distant land, this is in Edinburgh. This is the reality of the housing crisis facing Scotland.
The number of homeless households temporarily accommodated in hostels has increased by 43 per cent since 2010, research published yesterday found.
Separate research from Scottish Labour show 50,000 additional children are living in poverty because of high housing costs. A home should be a basic fundamental human right. But a decade of SNP complacency on housing and rising rental costs has had a devastating impact.
Austerity is a political choice. It’s the choice made by David Cameron and Theresa May and it’s the choice made by Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
It’s also the future choice for an independent Scotland, as the SNP’s Growth Commission report has revealed in stark detail.
Rather than a government at Westminster obsessed with harming the economy through Brexit, and a government at Holyrood obsessed with harming the economy through independence, I want governments
THIS time last year, General Election campaigning was suspended for a second time following a heinous terrorist attack. On the one-year anniversary of the London Bridge attack, we remember those who tragically lost their lives, and our thoughts are with those still struggling with grief.
As the Prime Minister said this week, our country’s resolve to stand firm against terrorism has never been stronger.
When all communities stand united, evil will never win.
which are focused on building a more equal society.
We must end the housing crisis by building more homes for social rent and reforming the private rented sector.
In Edinburgh, there are proposals to build 20,000 affordable homes over the next decade, but fewer than half the number required were completed last year.
Under the SNP, the country is not building enough homes – or creating them quickly enough – leaving thousands of people languishing on waiting lists.
We need new legislation to regulate the private rented sector to ensure nobody is forced to rent a home which pushes them into poverty, and we should invest a proportion of local government pensions funds in social housing to boost supply.
I know many people reading this will share my outrage that fellow citizens are being so let down by the system. There will be others who are struggling to pay their bills and fear this could be their future.
And there will be many reading this in the comfort of their own homes, thinking: “Well, this isn’t my problem”.
The reality is that the housing crisis should concern us all. Because we’re all paying for it.
When it comes to the priorities facing us, it’s time housing is mentioned in the same breath as hospitals and schools.