Scottish Labour Party Debate: Housing Emergency

Anas Sarwar S6M-14719 That the Parliament believes that the Scottish Government has failed to respond adequately to the housing emergency that the Parliament declared in May 2024. Paul McLennan S6M-14719.4 As an amendment to motion S6M-14719 in the name of Anas Sarwar (Housing Emergency), leave out from "believes" to end and insert "agrees that Scotland is in a housing emergency; notes the Scottish Government’s ongoing work with partners, including COSLA and the Housing to 2040 Board, on priorities in tackling the housing emergency; highlights the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide £80 million across 2024-25 and 2025-26 to support acquisitions and bring empty social homes back into use, bringing the Affordable Housing Supply Programme investment to almost £600 million this year, and its commitment to £100 million for 2,800 mid-market rent homes; welcomes the investment of £22 million in affordable housing through charitable bonds and the launch of a planning hub to improve capacity and skills; notes the Housing (Scotland) Bill, which includes key measures on preventing homelessness, including action through rent controls, and calls on the UK Government to reverse the 9% capital budget cut, to permanently uprate local housing allowance to the 30th percentile of local rents, and to scrap the so-called bedroom tax in its Autumn Budget." Miles Briggs S6M-14719.2 As an amendment to motion S6M-14719 in the name of Anas Sarwar (Housing Emergency), insert at end ", following repeated calls from charities and local authorities to take urgent action to alleviate rising cases of homelessness and to tackle Scotland’s affordable housing shortage; notes that homelessness in Scotland has climbed to its worst level in more than a decade, with over 40,000 applications, and that, out of the 33,619 households assessed as homeless, there were over 15,000 children recorded; recognises that housing is a wholly devolved issue that the Scottish National Party (SNP) administration has mismanaged and exacerbated through rent controls and financial mismanagement, such as cutting £200 million from the housing budget; believes that by working together with developers, local authorities and landlords, more houses could be made available to buy and rent across Scotland; acknowledges that the SNP administration’s cladding remediation scheme has yet to complete work on any affected properties in Scotland and has only spent £9 million of the £97 million given by the UK Government to fix unsafe cladding; understands that the Scottish Government has failed to provide financial support for residents living in properties built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) that are at risk; notes that the SNP administration has presided over a collapse in the housebuilding sector, with a 17% decrease in all sector starts and completions in 2023-24; echoes the concerns expressed around land supply and the planning system, and that the Scottish Government has failed to produce a clear plan setting out how it will properly fund and implement the policies contained within the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4), and calls on the Scottish Government to take responsibility by addressing this national emergency."