Housing charity praises council for scaling back on temporary housing

The council has been praised by homeless charity Shelter for cutting back on the use of temporary housing. But it has a long way to go to meet the national target of giving everyone the right to a home by 2012.

The charity welcomed the SIC’s commitment to increase the supply of new affordable homes for rent and reiterated its call for more money for housing from Scottish Ministers.
Figures from the Scottish Government show that Shetland is the only local authority to reduce its use of temporary accommodation in Scotland. At the end of March this year 62 households were living in temporary accommodation comopared with 71 in 1999.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “[The] council has achieved much but has much to do to meet the 2012 commitment to give everyone in Scotland the right to a home. Shelter Scotland welcomes the council’s reduction in use of temporary accommodation and commitment to improving their performance and would be happy to work with the council to help them move forward.”

The charity this week submitted its case for more homes through the budget to finance secretary John Swinney. The “Building Solutions” submission argues that £200m extra a year would help build the 10,000 affordable rented homes a year that housing experts agree are needed.