Scottish ministers ‘backtracked’ on social housing pledge, say Lib Dems

Published by Julien Tremblin for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Local Government

Liberal Democrats have accused the Scottish Government of moving away from its commitment to build 6,000 socially rented homes every year.

Lib Dems say that pledge has been replaced with homes that require an “element of purchase”. They are calling on Ministers to recommit to their pledge at a time when “housing need is reaching crisis levels in Scotland”.

New figures from Freedom of Information requests also reveal the number of households that have been waiting on local authority housing lists for over two years.

The figures show that as of last October, over 120,000 households across Scotland had been waiting for over a year and over 81,000 of these had been stuck on waiting lists for over two years.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Housing spokesperson Jim Hume MSP said: “It is clear that Scotland’s housing crisis requires urgent action from the Scottish Government. Ministers need to focus on building more homes for social rent so that these families can finally access a home.

“It has been hugely disappointing to see the Scottish Government move away from its manifesto commitment to build 6,000 socially rented homes each year, replacing it with homes that require an element of purchase. There has been growing anger at the backtracking by Ministers over recent months.

“The Scottish Government has significant additional resources at its disposal since the draft Budget was published last September. SNP Ministers now have funds available that will help deliver their own commitment to 6,000 new homes for rent each year and we are calling for them to recommit to this pledge.

“The approaching 2012 homelessness target brings the need for more socially rented homes into even sharper focus. If the SNP Government does not make the right choices on housing it is clear that thousands of families will be left on housing lists for many more years.”