SCOTLAND is in the grip of a “housing crisis” that disproportionately affects the young and private renters, according to a housing and homelessness charity.
A report from Shelter Scotland has revealed it helped more than 21,000 people between April 2016 and March of this year. The charity also reported more than 825,000 unique visits to its online advice pages.
The most common queries on the site related to struggling to afford housing costs, conditions of properties, and landlord issues.
Scottish Labour said that for months now it has been putting pressure on the Scottish Government to “take the housing crisis seriously”.
Almost half (46 per cent) of those needing help were private renters, according to the report, despite the sector making up only 14 per cent of homes in Scotland.
Young people aged between 16 and 34 also made up almost half (46 per cent) of those who sought advice.
A slightly smaller amount of people (44 per cent) needed help keeping their home, while 29 per cent of people who approached the charity wanted assistance to find a home, including advice on homelessness.
More than 1000 people who were already homeless came to the charity for help.
“The terrible shortage of truly affordable homes, harsh welfare reforms, stagnant wages and the high cost of keeping a roof over their head are the main reasons driving people to ask for help,” said deputy director of Shelter Scotland Alison Watson.
“Struggling to afford or pay housing costs is the biggest presenting problem people have when coming to us for help.”
She added: “The statistics speak for themselves — on average, a household in Scotland becomes homeless every 19 minutes.
“We are seeing more reports of rough sleepers dying on our city streets.
“Unknown numbers are sofa surfing with friends and families as they don’t have, or cannot afford, a home of their own.
“Our teams were contacted by more than 1000 households who were already homeless.”
Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said that he was working hard to protect the most vulnerable from the impact of austerity cuts from Westminster and defended the Scottish Government’s record.
“We have delivered 60,000 affordable homes in our time in office, reintroduced council housing, ended right to buy, and are supporting people into home ownership,” he said.
“We are on track to deliver even more houses in this parliamentary term with our commitment to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes — including 35,000 social homes, backed by over £3 billion investment during the lifetime of this Parliament.”
Scottish Labour’s Pauline McNeill criticised the Government for allowing private rent to be so high that it prevents thousands of prospective buyers from being able to save up enough money for a deposit.
The lack of social housing, she said, is what leads these people into the private sector in the first place.
“Labour has been putting pressure on the SNP government for months to take the housing crisis seriously,” said the Glasgow regional list MSP.
“That means building more homes with a national housebuilding strategy, creating jobs and cutting poverty levels, but also reforming the private rented sector too.”
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