Plea for Scots Gov help as demand for housing advice soars
THE demand for housing advice has almost doubled as the costof-living crisis intensifies, according to a report.
The Citizens Advice Scotland study shows more people are now seeking support on rent costs and other housing issues than they were before the pandemic.
Aoife Deery, CAS social justice spokesperson, has called on the Scottish Government to offer more support to those struggling.
Concern around landlords increasing rent prices is now eight times higher than at the start of the pandemic, with views of online advice pages rising 48 per cent.
Page views for online advice around foodbanks and crisis support have almost doubled since March 2021.
Preliminary 12-month data for guidance provided by Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) also suggests demand for debt advice is close to pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, demand for advice around utilities – namely energy – is now higher than before the pandemic, according to the data.
It represents more than 5% of all advice given, compared to 3.3% before the pandemic.
Ms Deery said: “This data for March 2022 shows that even before the impact of the energy price cap increase in April, demand was growing for advice around the cost of living.
“A growing concern has to be housing – we’ve seen huge increases in demand for page views on landlords increasing rent in March alone.
“Across the CAB network itself, demand for housing advice is now higher than it was before the pandemic. It’s clear that people are struggling and we need to see action from policymakers to ease the squeeze the cost-of-living crisis is putting on people. The CAB network is also here for people. Our advice is free, impartial and confidential and is for everyone. CAB can deliver life-changing results for people. Last year, we unlocked £147 million, with the average client financial gain being over £4,400. We don’t judge, we just help.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said they want the UK Government to take action.
They said: “We are investing almost £770m per year in cost-ofliving support, including through a range of family benefits not available elsewhere in the UK, doubling the Scottish Child Payment, mitigating the bedroom tax, and increasing Scottish benefits by 6%. This is on top of £12m we are investing this year in organisations such as Citizens Advice Scotland to help people make the most of their income and support those experiencing problem debt.”