Mairi McAllan must end 'political choice of homelessness'
Gordon MacRae, assistant director of Shelter Scotland, accused Scottish ministers of 'maintaining' homelessness by managing the decline in the housing sector.
He said the Housing Bill, currently being considered in Holyrood, fails to 'stop anyone becoming homeless'.
In a scathing assessment, he said: "We have nothing on the table right now that will reduce the probability of homelessness occurring over the next 12 months.
"This is a political choice. We have a programme for managing homelessness and managing decline in the housing sector."
He added: 'The seriousness and the energy and relentlessness to drive change, I'm afraid it's not there.
'I don't think it's an unfair challenge to say that the Scottish Government's comfort zone is managing the problem not ending the problem and that is what we hope for with Mairi McAllan.'
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He said Ms McAllan must reduce homelessness and increase the number of council and social homes by the end of the parliamentary year.
'This is the opportunity that is available to her but it requires political choice to do things differently and up until now ll of the working groups, all of the meetings – and there has been many of them since the declaration – have really focused on doing better with what we have.
'We need to accept that there is not enough homes, there's not enough good quality services to stop the continued growth in homelessness.
'We also need to accept that if homelessness increases, then the harm increases. More people will die, more people will be on the streets, more children's life opportunities will be reduced because of the experience of homelessness.'
Last month, it was revealed that every council except Edinburgh will receive less money for social housing this year compared to four years ago.
Scotland declared an official housing emergency in May 2024, following in the footsteps of a dozen councils, including Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Ms McAllan's predecessor Paul McLennan informed the First Minister he did not wish to continue in government following a brief period of ill health.
Since taking office, Ms McAllan said she will "advocate for the greatest possible funding" for her new portfolio.
In response, Ms McAllan said: 'Having a safe, warm and affordable place to call home is critical to a life of dignity and opportunity. Therefore providing this and tackling the housing emergency head on will be my top priority.
"It will be essential in ensuring everyone in Scotland, and in particular our children, have the opportunity to thrive and I am focussed on delivering that real change.
'A major key to tackling the housing emergency is delivering affordable homes - and fast. We have a good track record in this, but we must now step up our efforts.
"To that end, we will invest £768 million this financial year in the affordable housing programme, including £40m targeted towards acquisitions to support the local authorities to tackle the most sustained homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures.
'I am also focussed on preventing homelessness in the first place. Local authorities will be provided with £15 billion this financial year for a range of services, including in homelessness services.
"There is also an additional £4 million invested in the Ending Homelessness Together budget for 2025-26 to help local authorities, frontline services and relevant partners prepare for the new measures in the Housing Bill - measures which will help to prevent homelessness before it occurs.
'I am squarely focussed on the task in hand, am open minded about how to approach matters and look forward to working with Shelter Scotland and others in this vital task.'
Ms McAllan faced criticism last week after she was unable to say how many people in Scotland were on a social housing waiting list.
She told STV News: 'It's not that I don't know it, I don't have the figure with me today.'
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