SCOTTISH ministers need to build 12,000 houses a year for the next five years if they are serious about ending Scotland’s housing crisis, according to Shelter.
The call from the charity came as they revealed that children in Scotland “suffered nearly one million days of homelessness”.
Analysis of Scottish Government obtained by Shelter shows that Scotland’s 32 local authorities had to provide 3.8 million days of temporary accommodation for homeless households, of which nearly one million were for households with children.
Alison Watson, the charity’s deputy director said it was “simply not good enough”.
Watson said: “To tackle Scotland’s housing crisis and help end housing-related poverty, the Scottish Government needs to commit to a major house building programme of at least 12,000 new affordable homes each year for the next five years.”
She continued: “Last month we highlighted the plight of almost 5,000 children being homeless at Christmas and the need for urgent action. This report is further evidence of Scotland’s housing crisis and why we need political commitment to a major house building programme right now, to ensure that no child spends Christmas or any other time of the year homeless, living in temporary accommodation.”
Shelter’s report also says 61 per cent of all homeless households were housed in temporary accommodation while they waited for a home, with half of the households with children having to wait around three weeks longer than those without.
LibDem MSP Jim Hume said the results in the report were “a national embarrassment.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said they were committed to “doing everything we can to make sure everyone has access to a warm and safe place to stay” when homeless.
“The latest figures show a total of 25 families were living in bed and breakfast accommodation across Scotland,” the spokesman said. “We wrote to local authorities late last year to find out the reasons behind this, and many are developing strategies in order to reduce B&B use and improve use of temporary accommodation for homeless households. `
“We have exceeded our housing target of 30,000 affordable homes within the current parliamentary term, and have committed to deliver 50,000 more affordable homes, 35,000 of which would be for social rent.”
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