FIFE Council has declared a housing emergency amidst ‘unprecedented’ pressure on housing and homelessness services.
Declared at a meeting of the full council today, councillor Judy Hamilton, spokesperson for housing, said, “We have worked very hard in recent months, to avert this emergency, making sure tenants are in the right house for them and reviewing processes to turn houses around quickly so they don’t lie empty between tenancies.
“Despite this, Fife did not receive any of the £2 million revenue funding for temporary accommodation announced by the Scottish Government prior to December 2023.
“The biggest contributor to solving homelessness is to continue to build new social housing. “It is against this backdrop, the Scottish Government has cut 26% to the support for our affordable housing programme. This is extremely concerning and will have a negative impact on the number of new affordable houses the council and the Fife Housing Association Alliance can provide to support homelessness needs.
“Since 2012, we have had one of the largest social house-building programmes in Scotland and even the UK, delivering 7,400 houses. We have committed to building a further 1,250 council houses in Fife over the next five years, as part of the affordable housing Programme. Our ability to keep building is now compromised.
“Despite the fact that we have increased rents in Fife by 5% this year, Fife like other local authorities across Scotland, is now facing difficulties in meeting its statutory duties regarding homelessness.
“We are now officially therefore declaring a housing emergency. We will now work with partners to bring forward a housing emergency action plan to the cabinet committee in June, supplementing and accelerating actions already agreed.”
