More than 16,000 Scottish households are currently living in temporary accommodation. That dangerous reality has become a full-blown national epidemic. Negatively, more than 10,000 of these children live in these households. This perfect storm highlights the dire need for real solutions as families continue to deal with long-term displacement, security and instability.
Laura, a Save the Children ambassador and mother to four, has felt this crisis-induced hurt herself. Over the last four years, ever since she’d first appeared as homeless in June 2021, her family had been living in temporary accommodations. Her kids, who are four, five, 13, and 17, now go through life with the constant threat of instability. Unsurprisingly, they’re afraid that they will be evicted. Today Laura’s family lives with the realities of homelessness in Scotland. This fight has gotten markedly worse since the Scottish government—I’m not making this up—declared a national housing emergency one year ago.
Laura’s family is not the only one facing this housing crisis. Polling by YouGov for Shelter Scotland indicates that approximately 2.3 million Scots struggle with the security, condition, affordability, or suitability of their homes. This scary figure is a stark reminder that the crisis of housing insecurity is found across the country.
More than just a symptom of the crisis, thirteen councils have subsequently declared their own housing emergencies. This is indicative of just how broad and pressing the issue has gotten. This poses a particularly acute challenge for the Scottish government. Given its ambitious goal of building 110,000 new affordable homes by 2032, it risks otherwise missing the mark. More recent data indicates that residential starts have fallen to their lowest levels since 2013. On the other hand, completions are down to levels not seen since 2018.
Laura’s family has been made an offer of alternative temporary accommodation. It’s the high side of Edinburgh, more than eight miles from their home base and settled community in South Queensferry. This move threatens a huge disruption for her children, who are forced to still go to school in their established community. Laura expressed her frustration with the situation.
“It’s not refusing a home, it’s refusing to lose the lives we’ve built.” – Laura
This may be Laura’s reality, but it is sadly not all that uncommon. Thousands of families are going through the same thing. Georgina Hayes and Chris Clements were alarmed at what they saw. They as well as many others have been forced to live under the threat of eviction for four painful years.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, highlighted a disturbing truth. Since declaring a housing emergency, homelessness has increased and social housebuilding has decreased. Watson stated:
“It’s been a year since the Scottish Parliament declared a housing emergency and since then, homelessness has gone up and social housebuilding has gone down.” – Alison Watson
As we move through this ongoing crisis, we must ask whether our governmental responses have been adequate. Jane Wood, a housing policy expert, recently commented on the ongoing, unabated downward trend in housing starts and completions.
“We’ve seen a consistent drop in the number of starts and completions and if that’s dropping down, then we are obviously accumulating a big problem.” – Jane Wood
In a recent governmental announcement regarding the Programme for Government, Watson criticized the lack of a comprehensive strategy to address the housing emergency.
“Last week the Scottish government announced a Programme for Government with no plan to end the housing emergency,” – Alison Watson
Most recently, she drew attention to the suffering of children living in emergency housing.
“Instead, we had a programme for homelessness, which says nothing about the 10,360 children trapped in temporary accommodation which experts say exposes them to violence, vermin and isolation. This simply cannot continue.” – Alison Watson
Shirley-Anne Sommerville defended the government’s track record, asserting that significant funding has been allocated to address the housing crisis.
“So we have a good track record, but we know there’s more to do, and that’s why the budget this year got £768 million that will deliver eight thousand more affordable homes.” – Shirley-Anne Sommerville
For families like Laura’s, these assurances are empty as they face real-life struggles with making ends meet. She shared her fears. She no longer knew how to answer her children’s questions about why they didn’t live like everyone else.
“Every day the children are asking me when we’re going to get a home, and it’s really really difficult because I don’t have the answers to give them.” – Laura
Laura was careful to address those who would feel that they should just settle for whatever accommodations are thrown at them. She is convinced that preserving their close-knit community is central to her family’s continued prosperity.
“I completely understand there’s people who’d have the opinion you should just take what you’re given.” – Laura
As Scotland continues to face this chronic housing crisis, it has become apparent that the situation calls for immediate intervention. With thousands of families living in temporary accommodation and many more struggling with housing insecurity, addressing these issues must remain a priority for government officials and policymakers alike.
