Meeting of the Parliament 16 January 2025
First, I thank Rhoda Grant for securing this important debate. I was glad to support her motion. Secondly, I thank the Scottish Human Rights Commission for undertaking the work.
Although I strongly believe that organisations that seek to represent the views of all Scotland must come to the Highlands and Islands, that is not usually what happens, so it was very welcome to see such thorough and interested engagement across the region ahead of the debate.
It is right that the resulting report gets aired in the Parliament and that we get a chance to hear the Government’s response to the many issues that it raises. The report covers issues that the people who are contributing to the debate regularly raise in the Parliament. I recognise much of what is described in the report—-I could have perhaps written 12 different speeches on it—and I know how valuable the evidence on access and transport to healthcare, availability of food and general quality of life is.
I will focus largely on what I think is the most severe human rights issue that the report explores. Although homelessness exists across Scotland, it does so differently in different communities. In Skye, we are more likely to see young people being homeless at home, whereas, in Inverness, people might be stuck for long periods in unsuitable accommodation. If people in rural and island communities know that no social housing is available anywhere near them, they might not register as homeless, because they believe that there is no point.
All that hidden homelessness deserves full attention. It is important to note that the SHRC’s accurate description of the issue—from sofa surfing to living in temporary caravans—demonstrates to everyone that, although the issue might be hidden, it is not invisible and it is possible for us to see and react to it.
I have always tried to be very careful about how I speak about homelessness and to promote a reduction in stigma, because that stigma is real, unfair and pervasive. Having been in that situation in the Highlands, I know the dangers that come alongside it. It is not only about not having the security of going to sleep with a roof over your head, walls around you and a lock on the door; housing insecurity opens you up to a very dangerous underground culture. That is not because people who are homeless are naturally likely to break laws or drink too much; it is because they are vulnerable, even if they do not feel like they are. Bad actors see the opportunity to take advantage, sell drugs, assault and rape.
When I was homeless, I was frequently offered drugs and money. I did not take up those offers—or, more accurately, traps—but I often spent my cash-in-hand pay from temporary work on bottles of alcohol, in an effort to fast forward to my next shift, because I did not want to deal with, or look at, my own life. I completely understood why others around me opted for different substances to skip through their own living nightmares, and why young people end up stuck in a vicious cycle of being the middleman between out-of-area dealers and their next victims.
The fact that the report highlights rights holders raising their inability to access support services, such as addictions services, tells me that people are living that nightmare right now. Professionals in Orkney noted to the SHRC that a lack of availability of cannabis and support services has led to an increase in the use of harder drugs.
Services such as Addictions Counselling Inverness—a charity for which I have immense respect—do so much for the people who need help most. ACI is run by people who totally get the reality that their service users are living. It needs all the support that we can give, and such services should be available to everyone, no matter where they live.
Scotland is growing up in its approach to addiction, but something is still missing for those who need help today in the Highlands and Islands. Housing is a huge part of the picture. We cannot expect people to live stable and responsible lives when they have been left out in the cold. We must put at least as much energy into supporting them—giving them what they, individually, need to be safe—as those who prey on the vulnerable put into recruiting them.
13:01