Meeting of the Parliament 26 April 2023
I am grateful for the opportunity to discuss homelessness and the housing challenges that Scotland faces with our new housing minister.
Although we made good progress on addressing acute homelessness such as rough sleeping during the pandemic, I fear that we have yet to acknowledge the scale of the hidden homelessness that is present in many of our rural communities.
The causes of and solutions to the housing crisis in the Highlands and Islands, especially in its rural communities, are complex. A lack of supply, an ageing population, high land values, an imbalance between local wages and house prices and poor transport infrastructure, especially for public transport, all play a part, and are all areas that Greens in government seek to address.
The more I have worked on housing and planning issues, the more I have become a champion of the community-led housing model and its potential to transform housing provision—particularly in rural communities. We must improve access to the rural and island housing fund and provide on-going financial support for rural housing enablers, such as the Communities Housing Trust, which make community-led housing projects achievable by local communities.
Homelessness in rural areas does not just mean the lack of a roof over someone’s head; it also means the loss of community, of young people of working age and of language and culture. With no homes available close to friends and family, young people increasingly feel forced into our cities and towns, which adds to housing issues there. We need to ensure that we create homes that enable people to become rooted in their communities—if that is what they want—and provide the workers and families who we need to keep local communities thriving and viable.
In rural areas, especially, we lose homes to the holiday and second-homes markets. The Scottish Government is right to regulate and introduce stricter planning rules on short-term lets and to work with councils to bring empty homes back into use. I welcome the consultation on council tax for both empty and second homes. Not only does increasing council tax on second homes create a new source of income for councils, it helps to level the playing field between property investors and those who need a home to live in. The change will affect more than 9,000 properties in my region, the Highlands and Islands.
During this parliamentary session, Greens in government will also deliver a mechanism for capturing for public benefit a share of the increase in land value that occurs when a development is supported through the planning system. Adopting a plan-led approach through the new national planning framework means that local authority, regional and national plans align and drive the right kind of development in the right places, instead of the current situation, which is driven by developers and their profit motive.
I welcome the recommendations of the temporary accommodation task and finish group report that call for greater collaboration between the Scottish Government, COSLA and health and social care partnerships to ensure better planning and joined-up thinking. That is the kind of systemic change that we need to see that puts housing and people first.
The social housing and not-for-profit sectors are keen to address the challenge in innovative ways, and not only in rural areas. In Inverness, I have seen first hand the great work of Albyn Housing’s recent Bailey Place development, and the work of non-profit Highland Housing Association to retrofit and repurpose the Merchant house in the city centre. It transformed a derelict historic building into eight affordable, energy-efficient homes.
Scotland’s housing sector needs long-term solutions and a culture change away from housing as an investment to housing as something that creates homes for all our people. Greens in government will continue making the case for change and adequate funding to ensure that everyone in Scotland can access a safe, affordable and warm home in their local community and that our rural areas remain places to dwell as well as places to visit.
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