The lack of affordable housing has led to more Scots declaring themselves homeless, while reports of rough sleeping in Edinburgh and Glasgow are increasing.
Thousands of children in Scotland are being affected by homelessness.
Scotland’s housing emergency has been blamed on SNP “incompetence” as the number of new builds across the country plummeted again last year.
Official figures for 2023-24 show the new housing supply in Scotland declined by 16.4 per cent in a single year – a drop of almost 4,000 homes.
In 2022-23 the new housing supply was 24,348 – but by last year the figure had plummeted to 20,364.
It comes at a time rising numbers of Scots are declaring themselves homeless, while reports of rough sleeping in Edinburgh and Glasgow are increasing.
More than 10,000 children are living in temporary accommodation with their families across the country due to a chronic lack of affordable housing, particularly around the biggest cities.
Charities have previously warned there are more kids stuck in unsuitable B&Bs or short-term flats in Edinburgh than in the entirety of Wales.
As of March 31 last year, there were 177,264 applications on council or common housing register housing lists.
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The figure represents a 1.2 per cent rise from the year before, although Scots can make multiple applications across different local authorities.
Mark Griffin, Scottish Labour housing spokesman, said: “These damning figures show that it is SNP incompetence at the heart of Scotland’s housing emergency.
“Rent is soaring, home ownership is being pushed out of reach, and 10,000 children don’t have a home to call their own – but the SNP has let the number of new homes plummet.
“Paul McLennan isn’t up to the job as Housing Minister and John Swinney is too arrogant to listen to those sounding the alarm about this devastating housing emergency.
“Families the length and breadth of Scotland are being let down by the SNP’s disastrous record on housing.
“It’s time for a change in direction – Scottish Labour will reform planning and build more houses so we can tackle this crisis at its root.”
Housing minister Paul McLennan has faced calls to quit(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
Housing minister Paul McLennan said he recognised “these are exceptionally challenging times”.
“However,” he said, “it is encouraging that affordable housing starts and approvals have increased in the year to December 2024, and we will continue to work with partners to increase these levels even further through our £768 million investment this year, an increase of £200 million when compared to last financial year.
“Providing everyone in Scotland with the right to a warm, safe and affordable home is essential to our key priority of eradicating child poverty.”
He said the Scottish Government had a “strong track record” on affordable housing, including the delivery of 136,000 homes between 2007 and 2024, with 97,000 of those for social rent.
“That’s 47% more per head of population than England and 73% more than Wales as of March 2024,” he said.
“Since we declared a housing emergency last May we have been working at pace with a range of stakeholders across the housing system to take urgent action.
“This has involved working closely with those local authorities who are experiencing the greatest and most sustained homelessness and temporary accommodation pressures.”
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