Could Social Housing be the Best Way to Tackle Homelessness?
New research by Shelter Scotland has stated that people in Scotland recognise that delivering more social housing could be the best way to tackle homelessness.
A representative survey commissioned by the charity has shown that 62 per cent of people in Scotland believe that funding the construction of social homes is the most effective way to tackle homelessness and improve people’s access to housing.
Delivering social housing will help to address the current housing crisis
Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, explained how important the role of delivering social homes is: “This research clearly shows people in Scotland understand that delivering more social housing is absolutely essential in the fight against homelessness.
“A lack of social homes is the root cause of Scotland’s housing emergency, but the Scottish Government continues to ignore the structural issues which have broken our housing system in favour of other policies that it knows simply won’t be anywhere near as effective as delivering social homes.”
Funding for Scottish social housing has been cut recently
Three local authorities, Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh, and Glasgow, have all declared a housing emergency in their council areas.
Alison revealed that CIH Scotland will be the next to declare a Scottish housing emergency, coming just a week after the Scottish Government cut the affordable housing supply budget by £196 million. In addition, new homeless figures show over 30,000 open homelessness cases, a 10 per cent rise on figures 12 months ago.
She said: “The latest figures show that record numbers are trapped in the homelessness system, because there simply aren’t the social homes to give them the security and stability they need.
“Now, the Chartered Institute of Housing has also declared a housing emergency; Scotland’s housing professionals are uniting to send a message to both the UK and Scottish Governments.”
Continuing, Alison expressed that communities need to feel supported: “There was complete dismay across the housing sector in the wake of the Scottish Government’s enormous 26% cut to funding for social homes and it’s clear from this research that same sense of dismay will be felt in communities right across the country.
“People are crying out for our politicians at every level of government to tackle homelessness and the housing emergency, they know that social housing is key to that, and they won’t put up with inaction any longer.”
The findings from this research reflect how important the housing crisis is to local communities and more needs to be done to not only amplify confidence among them but to help to meet the current housing demand.
