Ahead of local elections in 2022, we spoke to councillors from all four of Scotland’s biggest cities on the importance of delivering social housing to address the housing emergency. Thanks to the collective pressure of more than 12,300 people across Scotland, city leaders from across the political divide pledged to prioritise the urgent building of more social housing – this commitment we believe is the structural solution to the housing emergency.
Social homes allow people to move quickly through the homeless system and into a permanent home. They also ensure that people have a secure and affordable place to live. We also know that social homes provide additional social value, too. Without these social homes it is very difficult to tackle child poverty and improve health, education and employment outcomes.
Unfortunately, in the last year the housing emergency has only got worse both at a national level and in many local authorities: so much so that the Scottish Housing Regulator described homeless services as at “risk of systemic failure”.
We have published report cards for the four local authorities with the largest cities in Scotland, which track progress in delivering the social homes that councils themselves have said they need. They also note where there is additional or reduced pressure on their homelessness services. For example, showing where there is a reduction or increase in open homelessness applications, households becoming homeless, households in temporary accommodation and average time spent in temporary accommodation.
ABERDEEN
In April 2022 the Lib-Dems who now co-lead the council pledged to prioritise social house building in Aberdeen, and tied the delivery of social homes to ending homelessness.
Aberdeen’s report card shows that whilst the city is showing improvements in some areas, with less people become homeless and less time spent in TA, homeless services are busier than ever, and the number of households trapped in TA is rising again.
So, have Aberdeen’s elected officials prioritised social house building as they promised? In their Strategic Housing Investment Plan Aberdeen City Council set out a target to deliver 385 affordable homes per year. If we assume 70% of these will be social homes (in line with Scottish Government targets), this would mean 270 social homes should be delivered per year. The latest statistics show that between April – December 2022 467 social homes have been delivered in Aberdeen.
The fact that Aberdeen have already exceeded their target this year is very positive news. Progress in delivering the required social homes must however continue, particularly as they are seeing an increasing number of households trapped in temporary accommodation and increasing pressure on their homelessness services.
DUNDEE
Dundee has scored well in four out of the six measures of the housing emergency. However, the numbers of children in TA and the average length of time that a household stays in TA are both increasing. Both of these are cause for concern.
Despite sign up from the leader of the council in April 2022 committing to building social housing, and including in their Strategic Housing Investment Plan a target that 200 new social homes need to be delivered each year, Dundee only delivered 24 social homes between April and December 2022.
They are not on track to meet their target, which means that the housing emergency in Dundee will get worse. More people will become homeless, homeless services will become overwhelmed and these families will be trapped in temporary accommodation with no social homes for them to move on to.
EDINBURGH
In April 2022 Labour, who are now the governing party of City of Edinburgh Council, signed our pledge to prioritise building social homes in Edinburgh. Their party was also elected to the city council on a manifesto which made commitments to deliver many more social homes. However, a year on the council does not appear to have kept to its promise.
Edinburgh is facing a growing housing emergency which shows on almost every indicator: more open homeless applications, more children and households trapped in temporary accommodation, and the average length of time a household spends in temporary accommodation is rising too.
Whilst Edinburgh needs to urgently deliver much more social housing, the latest figures show that they are way off target, delivering only 185 social homes between April and December 2022. According to their Strategic Housing Investment Plan they must deliver 1,111 social homes per year1. The City of Edinburgh Council must prioritise the urgent delivery of social homes and call for the support they require to deliver these homes if they are to have any hope of addressing the growing housing emergency in the city.
GLASGOW
In the run up to the local council election we received pledges from councillors across all parties to prioritise social house building in Glasgow. This included the support of Housing Convener Kenny McLean.
Glasgow City Council has made progress in addressing the high numbers of households and children in temporary accommodation in the city. However, the statistics shows that the housing emergency is still clear: there are increasing numbers of households becoming homeless, and homelessness services are becoming busier.
According to Glasgow’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan they need to deliver 910 new social homes a year. However, the latest statistics show that between April and December 2022, only 423 social homes were completed, meaning they’re not on track to meet their target. If more social homes aren’t built and this target continues to be missed then the housing emergency in Glasgow will only get worse.
SCOTLAND
According to the Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update: New Housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply, it is clear that homelessness will increase if urgent action is not taken to increase the number of affordable and social homes being built across the country.
Between 23rd March 2022 and 31st March 2023 there were 9,121 social housing completions against a target of 7,770. However, starts on homes for social rent are down by 18% (1,132 homes) while approvals are down by 15% (896 homes).
The housing emergency is growing and pressure is increasing on many local authorities across Scotland – with increased demand on their homeless services and increasing challenges to delivering the social homes needed. But without full and frank accountability and an awareness of how far away we are from meeting targets, we won’t be able to galvanise the resources required to end the housing emergency. These report cards aim to provide that marker to ask our collective selves – is this enough and if not, what needs to happen next? We cannot ignore the pressure local authorities are under and much more needs to be done to support them to deliver the social homes required and provide the homelessness services that people urgently need.
Local authority report cards June 2023 data briefing – Shelter Scotland
Update on 28th June 2023: New figures were published on 27th June providing updated figures from local authorities on the number of social homes delivered to the end of March 2023.
These figures show the additional social homes delivered between January and end of March 2023. The table below outlines the updated figures. The Shelter Scotland ratings as green, amber or red remain the same in light of the updated figures.
| Local authority target* | Figures on report cards | New figures published 27/6/23 | Shelter Scotland rating |
| Aberdeen City Council’s social housebuilding target: 270 | Actual social homes delivered from April to December 2022: 467 | Actual social homes delivered from April 2022 to end March 2023: 546
Shelter Scotland rating: GREEN |
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| Dundee City Council’s social housebuilding target: 200 | Actual social homes delivered from April to December 2022: 24 | Actual social homes delivered from April 2022 to end March 2023: 101
Shelter Scotland rating: RED |
 |
| City of Edinburgh Council’s social housebuilding target:1,111 | Actual social homes delivered from April to December 2022: 185 | Actual social homes delivered from April 2022 to end March 2023: 451
Shelter Scotland rating: RED |
|
| Glasgow City Council’s social housebuilding target: 910 | Actual social homes delivered from April to December 2022: 423 | Actual social homes delivered from April 2022 to end March 2023: 737
Shelter Scotland rating: RED |
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*See data briefing/note above for the source and any relevant calculations undertaken on local authority targets to provide a figure for the number of social homes to be delivered in the reporting period.
Source: Scottish Government (June 2023) Affordable Housing Supply Programme: quarterly updates on completions