announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing<\/a> to tackle the impact of the housing emergency on people across Scotland.\u00a0<\/p>\nIt is right to focus first on addressing the impact of this solvable emergency on children\u2019s wellbeing and health, on the most disadvantaged and excluded groups in society, and on people who face real peril for want of access to safe accommodation.<\/p>\n
And it is right to provide more investment for homes and more acquisitions. Without the right level of spending on these national priorities, homelessness and rough sleeping will only get worse, at great cost to people, communities, and the public finances.<\/p>\n
While \u00a34.9 billion for affordable housing over the next four years is significant \u2013 along with a commitment to multi-year funding projections \u2013 it falls well short of the \u00a31.64bn annual investment that is needed to bring homes in reach for everyone, according to authoritative research released today by Shelter Scotland, the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.<\/p>\n
Rapid Rehousing and Housing First <\/p>\n
We know Rapid Rehousing, including Housing First with wraparound support, is the right plan to reduce homelessness. Extending Rapid Rehousing Transition funding of \u00a38 million into 2026\/27 will support councils to implement their Rapid Rehousing plans and provide the right housing options for everyone in their community.<\/p>\n
A \u00a31m uplift in Housing First funding this year can keep more people in tenancies, breaking the cycle of repeat homelessness and saving money for services people rely on when they become homeless, including the NHS, mental health, and justice.<\/p>\n
Providing \u00a33m for social landlords to acquire properties to deliver Housing First in targeted locations is a further positive step in scaling up Housing First, which currently meets just 9% of projected demand \u2013 a figure that has not changed from last year.<\/p>\n
The next step must be to introduce longer-term funding arrangements and increase funding so Housing First can help more people. Local authorities and support providers are crying out for the certainty that multi-year settlements bring, for the benefit of tenants and frontline workers as well as their own vital operations.<\/p>\n
Temporary accommodation <\/p>\n
People who experience homelessness must have access to the same range of housing options as other members of the public. For some people, the private rented sector offers the right choice, in the right place at the right time. For that reason, investing up to \u00a32m through the Scottish Government\u2019s Discretionary Housing Payments scheme to support households in temporary accommodation to find settled homes in the private rented sector is also to be welcomed.<\/p>\n
Increasing supply of good quality temporary accommodation through private sector leasing will, we hope, divert more people away from unsuitable and unsafe conditions \u2013 while also squeezing out providers who make millions by providing squalid accommodation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Scottish Government can go further by creating a challenge fund to supply more good quality temporary accommodation delivered by the third sector and social landlords. Increasing supply of good quality temporary accommodation will be crucial, given the measures announced today to proactively \u2018flip\u2019 good quality temporary accommodation occupied by families with children into settled homes wherever possible. A positive measure mustn\u2019t have a negative knock-on effect.<\/p>\n
No rollback on rights <\/p>\n
The Cabinet Secretary has today shown boldness and a welcome sense of urgency with her action plan. We appreciate her strong commitment to preserving existing housing rights, voiced in the chamber, and her demand that the Home Office properly fund and organise its asylum processes.<\/p>\n
It is unrealistic to demand that the Cabinet Secretary solve the housing emergency in the remaining nine months of this parliament. But it is crucial that this momentum continues after the election in May. The next Scottish Government must build on this action, not least by stretching to meet the true cost of building the social and affordable homes we need.<\/p>\n
Alongside that, the next government must also ensure the prevention measures in the Housing Bill are properly implemented \u2013 because the best way to tackle homelessness is by preventing it happening as early as possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysing the Scottish Government\u2019s new housing measures, Homeless Network Scotland CEO Maggie Br\u00fcnjes welcomes them as positive steps…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-399947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-scotland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115151662448763801","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Maggie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Maggie_Brunjes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n