Scotland faces housing emergency due to lack of homes, say council chiefs

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Scotland faces an “emergency” amid a “critical lack of capacity” of social housing, a report has warned.The Solace report, made up of council chiefs and senior managers, estimates at least 125,000 homes are needed to meet the current demand.

It revealed that 243,603 people are currently on the waiting list for social housing. But only 26,102 allocations were made across the entire country.Chair of Solace Scotland Cleland Sneddon said local authority housing faces “unsustainable pressure” amid the lack of new homes.

This comes after analysis revealed just 18,583 affordable homes have been delivered since 2022. The supply has fallen 20 per cent in three years.Sneddon said: “The report sets out the unsustainable pressure on local authority housing, the challenges and barriers that are limiting the supply of new homes and social rent tenancies, and recommends action needed to implement change at pace and scale.“Our conclusion is that it is clear that a fundamental review of homelessness services and social housing provision in Scotland is required.

A minimum 10-year plan is needed for whole system transformation.”The research was carried out with local authority body Cosla and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (Alacho).The Housing in Scotland report showed that nine of the total 32 councils were unable to meet their statutory obligations to provide suitable temporary accommodation.