Planned housing cuts ‘worst possible decision at worst time’
Proposals to cut social housing budgets represent “the worst possible decision at the worst possible time” and are a “hammer-blow” to reducing poverty, a coalition of housing and anti-poverty bodies have said.
In an open letter to First Minister Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Homes for Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have urged Mr Yousaf to think again about cuts being proposed to the 2024/25 budgets for housing and planning.
It comes the day before Holyrood votes on the draft Scottish budget for the year ahead.
Three local authorities, Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh and Glasgow have all declared housing emergencies after research by Homes for Scotland showed 693,000 households were facing some form of housing need.
The letter says safe, warm, affordable housing is a basic human right and that the draft budget is a “hammer-blow” to the First Minister’s mission for Scotland to be a country of equality, opportunity and community for everyone.
It urged the Scottish Government to “reverse” the “devastating decisions” it had made and prioritise resources to deliver more social housing.
SFHA chief executive Sally Thomas said: “Parliament will tomorrow decide whether to approve the Scottish Government’s budget – a budget that proposes to slash the money available to build social homes by more than a quarter.
“Almost one in 20 people in Scotland are on a waiting list for a social home, 30,000 are homeless and nearly 10,000 children are growing up in temporary accommodation.
“We just aren’t building the homes that Scotland needs.
“The budget proposals represent the worst possible decision at the worst possible time and are a hammer-blow to the First Minister’s priority of reducing poverty.” Homes For Scotland chief executive Jane Wood said chronic undersupply of housing in Scotland was “intensifying”. She added: “As we consistently highlight, private and affordable housing delivery are interconnected.
“With 30 per cent of affordable housing generated by the private sector through developer contributions, the more homes for sale that can be built, the more affordable homes will be delivered as a result.
“Given the planning system is already on its knees, the 43 per cent funding reduction being proposed will serve only to increase delay and cost, and do nothing to encourage crucial private sector investment.” Housing minister Paul Mclennan said: “The Scottish Government has led the UK in housing by delivering more than 126,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 89,000 of which were for social rent, including almost 24,000 council homes. We will invest £556 million in affordable housing in 2024-25, the majority of which will be for social rent.
“The UK Government failed to inflation-proof its capital budget and this has resulted in nearly a 10 per cent real-terms cut in our UK capital funding between 2023-24 and 2027-28. This is on top of the disastrous impact Brexit has had on construction supply chain issues.”