Tackling Scotland's Housing Emergency

1. Introduction

The Scottish Government declared a national housing emergency in May 2024. This Housing Emergency Action Plan builds on the significant progress to date as reported by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice to Parliament in May 2025. Having a safe, warm and affordable place to call home is central to a life of dignity and opportunity. I know that significant pressure remains on local authorities, partners and stakeholders to deliver Scotland’s ambitious housing and homelessness services.

My top priority is to use this action plan to drive forward our mission to eradicate child poverty. According to the latest official statistics, there were over 10,000 children living in temporary accommodation on 30 September 2024. That number is too high. Temporary accommodation provides a vital safety net for homeless households, but it must be short term. Further action, building on the measures already put in place, is urgently needed if we are to return that system to its original purpose and comprehensively respond to the housing emergency.

The Scottish Government has made significant public investment over many years. This has resulted in the delivery of affordable housing in Scotland being 47% more per head of population in England and 73% more than Wales between 2007-08 and 2023-24. We have helped deliver more than 139,000 affordable homes between 2007 to March 2025 with 99,000 of these having been made available for social rent. Latest statistics demonstrate the challenge we still face, but I am focused on delivering the required change.

This plan comprises new, enhanced, and accelerated actions, reflecting our determination to go further and faster in our commitment to tackling the housing emergency during the remainder of this Parliament and beyond. It sets out a bold and coordinated response — one that tackles immediate pressures while laying the foundations for lasting, systemic change. Our actions sit under three key objectives:

• Ending children living in unsuitable accommodation – as a vital part of the Scottish Government’s determination to eradicate child poverty;
• Supporting the housing needs of vulnerable communities; and
• Building our Future – maximising investment in Scotland’s housing sector.

Housing to 2040 remains our overarching strategy that sets out a vision and roadmap to ensuring everyone has a safe, good quality and affordable home by 2040. It is a vision where homes are affordable for everyone, where standards are high across all tenures, where people have easy access to green space and essential services; where homelessness is prevented; and where child poverty and fuel poverty have been eradicated. That vision has not changed and the actions I set out today will work to support its realisation.

MÀIRI MCALLAN

Cabinet Secretary for Housing