ECONOMY as jobless rate increases Stark warning over homelessness

MORE PEOPLE will end up on the streets as a result of Government cuts, a Tayside housing chief warned last night.

Bruce Forbes, director of A ngus Housing A ssociation, has warned there will be more homelessness as a result of the SNP administration cutting the subsidy level for building affordable homes.

Subsidies given across Courier Country have fallen dramatically in the past two years.

Mr Forbes claimed the change has resulted in far fewer affordable homes being built at a time demand was increasing.

New figures, obtained in a parliamentary question to housing minister Margaret Burgess, show grant payments to housing associations more than halved from £447m in 2009-10 to £211m in 2011-12.

Mr Forbes, whose charity has more than 1,700 affordable homes in A ngus, said building new homes at a reduced subsidy level of £30,000 was “unsustainable”.

“In 2009-10 we built around 120 houses. This year we are building four.”

He added that the cuts come at a time when there were increased numbers of European migrants looking for homes and when benefits are also set to be cut.

“There is going to be a divergence between what rents are being charged and what people are able to pay,” he said.

“We are seeing waiting lists increasing. We’ve also got a huge growing demand from people coming across from Eastern Europe.

“We are going to see a reduced supply at the same time as we’ve got a hugely increased demand for affordable homes.

“The result will

be increases in homelessness. It means children won’t have permanent schools, and lead to more people with health and stress problems.”

Between 2009-10 and 2011-12, Dundee funding reduced from £12.2m to £5.4m, Fife was down from £18.8m to £10.5m and Perth and Kinross showed a £13m to £1m reduction over the same period.

North East MSP Richard Baker has described figures as “a kick in the teeth” for the region.

He said: “The SNP talk about supporting housing but these figures show the real picture and their lack of support for new housing.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said it planned to meet an “ambitious” homebuilding target of 30,000 homes over the Parliamentary term and described the old subsidy as “unaffordable”.

He said: “This Government is investing at least £760 million in affordable housing over the next three years, despite Westminster cuts to our capital budget.

“Housing associations and councils across the country are finding new ways of delivering new homes.

“There can be no easy return to the unaffordable subsidy rates of the past.”

Charities are warning the number of homeless could rise as cuts take effect.