‘Up to 70,000 children’ on waiting list for social housing
● Charity calls for 37,000 homes to be built to deal with problem
An estimated 70,000 children in Scotland are on social housing waiting lists, the equivalent of 20 in every school, analysis indicates.
Housing and homelessness c h a r i t y S h e l t e r S c o t l a n d i s calling for at least 37,100 social homes to be built to help tackle the issue.
The charity’s analysis of the Scottish Housing Survey indicates there are about 40,000 households with children on waiting lists for social housing and around 70,000 children within those households.
In a Yougov survey commissioned by the charity, knowledge of the number of school c h i l d r e n o n s o c i a l h o u s i n g waiting lists increased sup - port for building more of these types of homes.
T h e p o l l o f 1 , 0 7 3 a d u l t s i n S c o t l a n d , c a r r i e d o u t between 8 and 11 September, found more than half (55%) of respondents believe the next Scottish government should build more social homes than the current government will have built by the end of this parliamentary term.
This rises to 65% when those surveyed were provided with the analysis of the number of children on waiting lists.
Just 4% believe the next Scottish government should build fewer social homes.
Just under two thirds (63%) believe Scottish political parties should prioritise building social homes, while about one in five (21%) believe they s h o u l d p r i o r i t i s e e n s u r i n g
more people can buy homes. Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: “It’s not right that tens of thousands of children don’t have the securit y of a safe, affordable home. It’s time to build a better future for these families.
“We k n ow t h a t d e l ive r i n g more social homes will sup - port economic growth, create jobs and help Scotland to meet its climate targets. It will also strengthen our communities -
reducing poverty and inequality, improving people’s health and tackling the root cause of homelessness.
“That’s why thousands of our campaigners will be calling on candidates in the 2021 election to put social housebuilding at the heart of Scotland’s recovery plan. Let’s build Scotland’s future.”
H o u s i n g m i n i s t e r K e v i n Stewar t said: “We are committed to expanding our social housing stock and have transformed access to affordable housing.
“The S cottish Government h a s d e l i v e r e d m o r e t h a n 9 5 ,0 0 0 a f f o r d a b l e h o m e s since 2007 and invested more than £3.5 billion to deliver our t a rg e t o f 5 0,0 0 0 a f f o r d a b l e homes, including 35,000 for so cial rent, over this parliamentary term.”