Rachel Reeves urged by SNP minister to help 'collective effort' to fix Scotland's housing emergency

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Rachel Reeves has been urged by the Scottish Government to join a "collective effort" to fix the country's housing emergency.The Chancellor will set out her first Budget two weeks today at a time of massive pressure on public spending.Paul McLennan, the SNP Housing Minister, has urged the Labour Government to use the financial statement to announce an investment in housebuilding.Housing is a devolved issue but Holyrood believes a UK-led push for new homes could lead to more funding via Barnett consequentials.McLennan also wants to see a commitment to a permanent annual increase to Local Housing Allowance (LHA), which covers rent for families in need.The Scottish Government has faced a massive backlash from housing charities and opposition parties when it cut the affordable housing budget by £196m earlier this year.It comes as new figures show people sleeping rough on the streets of Scotland are dying in record numbers despite efforts to tackle the nation’s homelessness crisis.The death toll among those without somewhere to live has risen by over 40% in the last year from 158 to 206.McLennan has insisted work is on-going to increase the supply of housing in Scotland.Writing for the Record, he said: "Scotland is facing a housing emergency, there’s no denying that.

Earlier this year, we declared one."We want to see an emergency response to the situation and that requires a collective effort from both the Scottish and UK Governments and councils across Scotland.

The UK Budget will be the first big test of how the UK Government will respond."The Scottish Government has already delivered a number of measures to ensure families can have a place they can call home.