Meeting of the Parliament 26 April 2023
Despite, rightly, moving to a housing first solution wherever we can in Scotland, having places where people can sleep safely while a more suitable long-term arrangement is identified remains vital. As the minister acknowledged, it is clear that families should not be in temporary accommodation if it can humanly be avoided.
The reasons for homelessness across the UK are inseparable from the wider picture of poverty, austerity and benefits changes. The recommendations that have been set out by the temporary accommodation task and finish group represent a key opportunity to make progress. As is set out in the report, we must see more social housing built, existing housing stock maximised and the provision of suitable support put in place for those who are moving on.
Homelessness is often viewed as an urban issue, but in my island constituency house prices and rent increases, coupled with high numbers of second homes and short-term lets, mean that even people working full time can find themselves needing temporary accommodation in some form.
Backed by significant Scottish Government funding, the local authority and housing association, as well as community landowners, have made steady progress on house building across the Western Isles in recent years. Even small projects, such as adding five to 10 homes to local housing stock, can make a huge difference to businesses being able to employ people in a community, and therefore to the viability of that community.
However, demand still outstrips supply in many island areas, particularly for social housing. For example, individuals on the housing waiting list in Stornoway have to endure a similar length of time to people who are on the Edinburgh list, and they often wait more than two years before being able to secure housing that is close enough to their place of work. People in other areas of the islands often confront the reality that little or no social housing exists at all.
Of course, global supply chain issues continue, and the impact of inflationary pressures makes it impossible to make housing budgets go anywhere near as far as they could even 12 months ago, but the need for more social and other affordable housing is one of the key issues in my constituency. When working-age people cannot access affordable housing in their area, they are forced to move away, contributing further to depopulation and the drain on suitable employees for essential local services.
That is why I whole-heartedly welcome the Scottish Government’s recent commitment of £25 million to bring empty homes back into use in rural and island areas to enable them to be used by key workers and others. I also hope that, following the on-going consultation, councils will be given the power to increase council tax on second or empty homes.
Finally, I believe that measures to allow for limits to be introduced on the proportion and number of second homes in specific communities would represent a key step in helping to ensure more equitable access to the local housing market and avoid the imminent hollowing out of some communities, which other members have alluded to. I look forward to discussing that in more detail with the new housing minister at our meeting in a fortnight’s time.
Addressing housing issues across Scotland requires co-operation, commitment and creativity from all levels of government and working collaboratively with local communities. I hope that the temporary accommodation task and finish group’s recommendations will help shape our response to this specific and real problem while work on wider housing issues continues apace.
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