Fife set to become fourth Scottish council to declare housing emergency

Labour’s housing spokesperson Judy Hamilton will ask next Thursday's meeting of the full council to back her motion and follow in the footsteps of Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh and Glasgow which have all declared a housing emergency to draw attention to the strain their housing system is under.

Her motion, with Councillor James Calder (Lib-Dem for Dunfermline South) asks the local authority to note with “great concern the extreme pressures on housing and homelessness in Fife.”

“Despite reprovisioning of temporary accommodation and increasing the number of properties available for relet, the number of households assessed as homeless and waiting for a tenancy and the number of families with children in temporary accommodation remains worryingly high,” it stated. “Like other local authorities across Scotland, Fife faces difficulties in meeting its statutory duties in regard to homelessness.”

Cllr Hamilton warned in January that a housing emergency declaration could be on the horizon at a Cabinet Committee meeting. It came amidst a 7% increase in homelessness presentations in the region in the past year. The committee also reported that there were around 1,900 households in Fife assessed as homeless and waiting for a council tenancy.

Those pressures have now been compounded by the Scottish Government’s 2024-25 budget, which will see support for the national new build Affordable Housing Programme cut by 26% this year.

“The significant cut made by the Scottish Government will impact on the Council’s own new build affordable housing programme, and the lack of additional capital funding as a consequence of the UK Budget,” the motion stated.

In a press release, Cllr Calder attacked the SNP/Green Scottish Government for the affordable housing budget cuts “despite increasing levels of homelessness and significant shortage of affordable housing.”

"Already a number of other Councils have declared a housing emergency due to their negligence and we sadly believe that Fife must now follow suit,” he said. "We are not pleased to have to put forward this motion, but we feel duty bound to do so to ensure that the housing shortages that we have in Fife are taken seriously.”

He continued: "We will be making the case for the SNP/Green Scottish Government to change course so we can finally tackle this crisis in housing in Fife."

If the motion is approved, the council would order Fife’s head of housing to work with partners to bring forward a housing emergency plan to the Cabinet Committee in June. It would also call on the Scottish Government to reverse its decision to cut the affordable housing programme budget.