Fife is facing a homeless crisis

John Mills, head of housing. revealed the majority were single people under 35 years of age as people are priced out of the property market.

The community and housing committee on Thursday was told that 10 per cent of the population was recorded as homeless.

Mr Mills said: “Many families are having to leave due to the negative impact of the benefit cap and high rents, which have left a lot of people struggling. Access to home ownership has also become increasingly difficult.”

He added that the Right to Buy had reduced the council housing stock from 76,000 in the 1980s to just 28,500 now.

Cllr Alice McGarry said: “The main thrust for me is the part that private housing plays.

“We have cases of people who have been driven out of private housing because the landlord is selling or they can’t afford rents. There is no seamless way for them to get onto the Fife Council housing register without actually becoming homeless.”

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However, Cllr Richard Watt disputed that Right to Buy was a negative scheme, saying it allowed a lot of people to own their homes.

Cllr McGarry replied: “The sale of council housing did advantage individuals, but it impoverished council tenants. We now have people who are unable to afford high rents in ex-council housing. Right to Buy has been a disaster for society as far as I’m concerned.”

Mr Mills said Universal Credit was also partly to blame for the crisis adding: “The single room rate causes homelessness as people can’t get benefits to support it in the private rented sector and find it very difficult to sustain. The benefit system doesn’t support those under 35 who are single.”

However, councillors welcomed the extensive affordable home building programme it was undertaking.

Mr Mills said that while phase three was going well, it had also learned some lessons, including how to better integrate new housing schemes into existing communities, and building in smaller scales for less disruption.