‘Tackling high rents in the private sector’, is one of the key priorities of a 20-year housing strategy set out by the Scottish Government in the run-up to Scotland’s 6 May parliamentary elections.

Housing to 2040 outlines the Government’s housing strategy and vision going forward. It includes plans to deliver 100,000 affordable homes over the next decade, at least 70 per cent of which will be for social rent.

Other key priorities include setting a single set of standards for housing quality and accessibility, no matter whether a home is owned or rented, tackling ‘high rents’ in the private sector and ‘supporting fair, accessible private and social rental sectors’ through a Rented Sector Strategy and Housing Bill.

The Government also wants to establish a new fund to help local authorities bring empty homes back into residential use,  and continuing with an updated plan to end homelessness and rough sleeping.

And there will be ‘a comprehensive audit’ of current housing and homelessness legislation ‘to understand how best to realise the right to adequate housing’.

said:

Housing to 2040 sets out a vision for what we want homes and communities to look and feel like for people regardless of their stage in life or where they live, said Scotland’s Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell. ‘It is a vision where homes are affordable for everyone, where standards are the same across all tenures, where homes have easy access to green space and essential services, and where homelessness, child poverty and fuel poverty have all been eradicated.

‘Everyone living in Scotland is entitled to a warm, comfortable and safe place to live.

‘That’s why we will develop a new Housing Standard which will be aligned to standards for energy efficiency and heating, meeting expectations for housing as a human right and delivering homes that underpin health and wellbeing. This will cover all homes, new and existing, with no margins of tolerance for sub-standard accommodation. Importantly we will also enshrine the Standard in law.

‘The Scottish Government will work with local authorities, registered social landlords, private landlords and communities to drive improvements to the quality of all homes so that everyone is living in good quality accommodation, regardless of whether they own it or rent it from a private or social landlord. Our existing homes need to keep pace with new homes to ensure no one is left behind’.

Pandemic leaves six million people more afraid of becoming homeless

Posted 16 Mar 2021

Pandemic leaves six million people more afraid of becoming homeless 

Shelter’s helpline braces for deepening crisis in the year ahead 

One in seven adults (14%) – equivalent to more than six million people – in England are more worried about becoming homeless due to the pandemic, new research by Shelter reveals.  

With people’s incomes slashed, job losses mounting, and people hanging onto their homes by a thread, the charity expects the pressure on its frontline services to only grow. 

Eleanor Wilson, a Shelter helpline adviser recruited in response to the pandemic, said: “People are frightened, they’re scared they might do the wrong thing, they don’t know their rights and they’re really worried they will lose their home. People can be quite distressed and don’t know where to turn. It can be emotional because you feel responsible for every caller.” 

Unsurprisingly, Shelter’s latest poll carried out by YouGov, shows it is private renters who have fared the worst during the Coronavirus crisis. A staggering one in four private renting adults (27%) now fear becoming homeless (2.2 million people).