Shelter Scotland has warned that the housing emergency has the “potential to get worse” amid the cost of living crisis.
The housing and homelessness charity fears the soaring cost of living will expose more people to the risk of homelessness, arguing that more social houses would alleviate the pressures.
As part of their national campaign, Shelter visited Aberdeen to speak to members of the public and get signatures for their petition to demand more social housing.
Charity director Alison Watson explained they were campaigning in the Granite City ahead of the local elections to show that “social housing needs to be the priority”.
She said: “Aberdeen City Council has done a lot of good work building social housing, but it needs to go much further.
“People really understand the message that everyone should have a home, that everyone has the right to a home, but unless there are enough social homes to make that right a reality, people are trying to live on empty promises.
“With the cost of living crisis people are really feeling the pinch, we know that almost half of the people in Scotland are at some point concerned about keeping up with rent, keeping up with the mortgage, making those horrible choices between heating and paying the rent.
“This is not a housing emergency that is getting better, it has all the potential to get worse.”
The charity’s analysis of local housing plans shows that a minimum of 853 new homes will need to be built in Aberdeen over the next five years to meet demand.
‘Shelter Scotland is needed’
Despite it being a cold and grey day, the campaigners had a good response from the public, with “countless” people signing the petition in person.
Angie Hentze, from Aberdeen, believes there “definitely” needs to be more and better social housing options in the city.
She said: “We need a council that will look after the people, they should invest in people who have lost their jobs, people who are starving, people who can’t afford to feed their children or put the heating on.
“Shelter Scotland is needed, and we need to support them.”
A pensioner, who did not want to be named, said he believed that social housing was an issue in Aberdeen and that councillors should “look after folk that voted for them”.
He said: “Energy price increases are going to cause more homelessness, and older people just can’t afford it. I feel sorry for those with young kids, it’s either heat or eat for them.
“I’ve had my life, but they’re just starting out with young kids and not being able to feed them because they need to keep the house warm, it’s a shame.”
We need to keep building on the city’s good work
Council candidate Steve Delaney, housing spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, attended the event.
He said: “We’re aware of the fact that there’s almost 5,000 people on the waiting list in Aberdeen city and to address this issue, we want to build on the good work that has gone on over quite a number of years.
“Were pledging 5,000 new homes for social rent over 10 years, that is council houses and through housing associations. It’s an amount that we believe is perfectly achievable, our aim being to wipe out the waiting list.
“I feel we have got to make this commitment as there are just too many people living in overcrowded situations and that’s something arisen from the right to buy legislation, where Scotland lost half a million homes, so it feels we need to do our bit to put this right.”
