Homelessness must be priority not housing cuts

This year’s Scottish Budget debate,dueinthescottishparliament chamber today, will take place with the homelessness system under extraordinary pressure.

As the cost-of-living crisis rages on, more people are finding it harder to get by. Those who were previously comfortable are beginning to struggle, and more people who were previously just about managing are finding themselves being pushed closer to homelessness.

We can see that growing pressure in our frontline services, with more people forced to come through our doors in search of help. And we can see it in new research, from Heriot-watt University, forecasting a 33 per cent rise in homelessness by 2026 unless we see a significant change in policy from both the UK and Scottish governments.

We can also see proof of it on the front page of last weekend’s Scotland on Sunday, uncovering evidence of families being sent huge distances, including down to Coventry, to receive support.

The first line of foreword to the 2024/25 draft Budget, written by deputy first minister Shona Robison, says “Budgets are about choices”.

The report says: “They are a distillation of what defines a government, a demonstration in pounds and pence of its priorities and its values.”

In that context, plans to cut the housing budget by nearly £200 million are deeply concerning. Representing a 26 per cent reduction in spending – compared to a 4 per cent cut in the overall budget – they will make it harder to meet Scottish Government targets to build 110,000 new affordable homes, with 70,000 for social rent, by 2032.

Cutting that spending won’t just make it harder to build more houses, it will make it harder to meet Scotland’s other aspirations as a nation. Because increasing housing supply doesn’t just help tackle homelessness. By lowering housing costs, it frees up people’s income to spend elsewhere. For many, lower housing costs will mean staying above the breadline.

Homelessness causes poverty and poverty causes homelessness. We’ve long known how homelessness impacts on society, from the revolving door between homelessness and the criminal justice system, to the pressure homelessness puts on the NHS. Taking pressure off the homelessness system, through investing in affordable and social homes, and through preventing homelessness from happening in the first place, will also take pressure off stretched public services.

New plans from the Scottish Government to prevent homelessness, expected in the upcoming Housing Bill, will also help reduce that pressure.

But these plans need to be properly funded.

What we really need is a Budget that prioritises ending homelessness.

It’s vital the government puts ending homelessness at the centre of decisions.

Matt Downie is the chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis