The Scottish government declared a housing emergency this week, six months after a similar move was blocked.   

Scottish Labour tabled a motion which made the declaration on Wednesday at Holyrood, with the government submitting an amendment accepting issues across the sector.   

Members of the Scottish Parliament voted 95 votes to 29 in favour of the amended motion on the housing emergency.  

The Scottish National Party previously voted against a Labour motion declaring a housing emergency in November, but the opposition party was able to force a vote this week.

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations welcomed the decision, having lobbied MSPs to back the vote and signed an open letter alongside Shelter Scotland and other bodies.   

Every party in parliament backed the vote for the housing emergency, which SFHA says “is a positive indication that there may now be the cross-party support needed to address the issue”. 

SFHA now calls on the government to “back their words with action and provide a funding package which recognises the scale of the problem and offers a genuine route towards solving it”. 

The association says one of the first steps the government should take is to reverse the 26% cut to the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget.  

After two successive budget cuts, SFHA argues: “We urgently need to prioritise investment in our social homes and create a renewed political focus on how to deliver them.” 

The association adds: “We know what works and we know the challenges we need to overcome – securing a fair and adequate settlement for the costs of retrofit, addressing the costs of developing new homes, and increasing tenants’ income – and we will work tirelessly on your behalf to solve these.” 

Shelter Scotland also welcomed the move by Holyrood. 

Charity director Alison Watson suggested the vote could be a “momentous day in the fight for housing justice in Scotland, but only if words are backed up with urgent action”.  

“It is shameful that 10,000 children in Scotland have nowhere to call home, that local homelessness services across the country are turning people away, and that so many people simply can’t afford the cost of housing.”  

“Now that they’ve declared a housing emergency, it’s time for our politicians to work together to deliver the actions necessary to end it; deliver the social homes we need, and make sure local services have the resources they need to do to their jobs.”   

Homes for Scotland also supported the decision but now asks that political leadership “demonstrate a move from a position of blame to one of solution and change”.  

Unless the Scottish government provides an emergency response that urgently addresses the shortfalls within the housing budget and the existing policy and regulatory constraints that serve only to restrict new housing supply across all tenures, today’s declaration of a national housing emergency will be “no more than a symbolic gesture”, said HSF chief executive Jane Wood. 

Wood adds: “With over a quarter of all Scottish households in some form of housing need and housing starts and completions across all tenures in freefall, recycling the same tired excuses that Brexit, cost price inflation and Westminster are the main drivers of the housing crisis just doesn’t cut it.”  

“The first step the Scottish government could take to show it means business is to fundamentally review the forthcoming Housing Bill to ensure that it focuses on increasing supply, rather than creating an unworkable system of rent controls that is stifling inward investment into our housing system.”