It’s a year since the Scottish Parliament agreed to a Scottish Labour motion declaring a national “housing emergency” in Scotland.
A previous SPICe blog considered the background to the Scottish Parliament’s decision and outlined the declaration of local housing emergencies in 13 of Scotland’s 32 councils.
This blog looks at what has happened since the declaration of the housing emergency.
Why has a housing emergency been declared?
There’s no standard definition of what constitutes a housing emergency.
During the parliamentary debate on a national housing emergency, reference was made to a range of factors, including a shortage of affordable housing in Scotland and high numbers of households in temporary accommodation.
Contributory factors include demand for social housing outstripping supply, and rent increases in the private rented sector. Other factors outside of the Scottish Government’s control include high inflation, increases in the cost of living and a freeze to local housing allowance (LHA) rates.
The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee published its Housing Inquiry report on 15 May 2025. It identified that the housing emergency has been years in the making as a result of systemic issues, such as failure of wages to keep up with increasing house and rental prices.
At a local level, each council has its own reasons for declaring a housing emergency in its area. While the reasons are complex and varied, common themes include pressures on homelessness services and a lack of affordable homes compared to high waiting lists.
Other factors are more specific to some areas, for example, Glasgow City Council has referred to pressures on the homelessness system from the UK Government’s streamlined asylum process. Aberdeen City Council has also cited the presence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in some homes in its area.
What is the Scottish Government doing in response to the housing emergency?
The declaration of a national housing emergency has no legal effect. However, campaigners hoped that it would create an imperative for the Scottish Government to act.
On 20 June 2024, the Minister for Housing, Paul McLennan MSP, made a statement to the Scottish Parliament on the Scottish Government’s response to Scotland’s housing emergency.
The statement set out high-level actions to increase housing supply and tackle homelessness. The key actions, organised under three strategic pillars, included: more quality, permanent homes; the right homes in the right places; and a permanent home for everyone.
Since then, specific actions have included:
- An increase in the Affordable Housing Supply budget in 2025-2026 to £768 million, following a previous budget cut.
- Additional money for councils who are experiencing the greatest homelessness pressures.
- Working with social landlords to understand what they need to do to reduce turnaround times for empty homes and voids.
- Work on ‘stalled sites’ where planning approval has been provided but building is yet to begin.
- Developing specific options to attract private investment through the Housing Investment Taskforce (which is expected to report soon)
What are councils doing to address housing emergencies in their areas?
Responses to the local housing emergency declarations have varied. Commonly, councils have developed action plans and are working with partners to implement shorter- and longer-term actions.
Work includes bringing void and empty properties back into use and more purchases of existing homes to increase the availability of housing and temporary accommodation. There’s also work around reviewing allocations policies and improving homelessness prevention.
What’s been the impact and what next?
The declarations of housing emergency appear to have focussed attention on the issue at national and local levels.
The Scottish Government reports that number of households in temporary accommodation in 12 council areas has reduced. Some councils have also reported reductions in the number of their void properties.
However, the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee identified that there are still significant challenges around homelessness, particularly in Glasgow and Edinburgh council areas. Glasgow City Council, for example, reports ongoing pressures from households granted refugee status, with the number of households and the number of children in temporary accommodation increasing.
As early as 2023 the Scottish Housing Regulator began identifying systemic failure in some councils in delivering their statutory duties regarding homelessness. In March 2025, the Regulator’s risk assessment of social landlords noted that they now regard three local councils in systemic failure, increased from two in the previous year.
In terms of housing supply, work is still ongoing to meet the Scottish Government’s long-term target to deliver 110,000 affordable homes by 2031.
Investment in social housing is resulting in an overall increase in the number of social homes. Recent statistics show that there are around 633,000 social homes in Scotland, an increase of just over 6,100 since the previous year. The Scottish Government also points to its comparatively good performance in delivering new social homes compared to other UK nations.
Despite this, there are signs that turnover of social lets is slowing down and social landlords have to balance investment in new homes with investment in the retrofitting of existing stock. At current levels of approvals and starts under the Affordable Housing Supply Programme, the 110,000 target looks like it could be difficult to meet.
The Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee recognised the complexity of the housing system with multiple areas where government and other bodies need to work together to bring about change and improvement. It called on the Scottish Government to take a whole-systems approach to tackling the housing emergency said that the Scottish Government should develop a national overarching Housing Emergency Action Plan with clear milestones and outcomes. The Scottish Government will respond to this report later.
Kate Berry
Senior Researcher (Housing)