Almost 14,000 people across Aberdeenshire face being on the council’s housing waiting list for years, shocking new figures have revealed.
Thousands of people are in a stagnant queue, with just 997 securing a tenancy last year.
Our exclusive figures show the true extent of the housing shortage in the north-east, with 13,636 people looking to the local authority to find a home.
The Press and Journal can also reveal that one family spent almost a year in one of Aberdeenshire’s two temporary accommodation hostels, which are in Peterhead and Inverurie.
Last night senior councillors admitted that unless would-be tenants were top priorities – such as the homeless, those at risk of harm, or families suffering from overcrowding – it was “unlikely” they would get a property.
Leading charity Shelter Scotland said more affordable housing was required urgently across the country.
Convener of Aberdeenshire Council’s housing and social work committee, Karen Clark, said: “Nobody is moving – they are hanging onto their houses.
“In terms of 14,000 on the waiting list, it is a large figure but we do encourage people to apply to the housing register as that in itself gives us an idea of needs and demand, and we can drill down into the specifics.
“We’ve got hotspots all over the shire.
“Unless people are in the priority bands, they are not going to get social housing.”
The council has 12,940 homes, with a turnover of about 1,100 each year.
Between January and November last year, just 997 new tenancies were created, more than half of them in the Banff and Buchan corners. A total of 102 tenants moved into new homes in Fraserburgh, while 96 settled in Peterhead.
In the Marr area, 158 people found new homes, mostly in Huntly; while in Garioch, 134 homes became available. Fifty of those were in Inverurie, with a further 25 in Kemnay.
In Formartine, just 105 homes were freed up, mostly in Turriff and Ellon; and only 75 people looking for a house in Kincardine and Mearns were successful.
Ms Clark, who is the councillor for Banchory, said the authority was looking to tackle the shortage by focusing promoting low-cost and mid-market housing in areas such as Inverurie, Peterhead, Stonehaven and Huntly.
She added that she was hopeful that a recent proposal to introduce a policy demanding a 25% affordable housing contribution from all developers would also help.
“We’re just trying to use everything in our armoury to improve things, because there’s such a high demand across the shire,” she said.
A council spokesman said addressing housing need was a “major challenge” across the region.
He added: “To address the housing problems in Aberdeenshire we continue to invest heavily in new affordable housing.
“Over last few years we have created 160 new houses and a further 220 homes are planned over the next three years. In addition to this we have agreed to proceed with plans to provide mid-market rented housing for people in Aberdeenshire which we hope will help to reduce the number of people on the waiting list.”
Fraserburgh councillor Brian Topping, who is also a director of both Aberdeenshire and Moray housing partnerships, said there would never be enough homes to go round.
He said: “We always, always want to see more houses built. There will never be enough.
“If you’ve got someone who lives in Fraserburgh, and was born there, grew up there, has a job there, but is single or married without children and they decide they would like a house, they have got little or no hope of getting a flat or housing.”
Both Mr Topping and Peterhead councillor Anne Allan, SNP housing spokeswoman, pointed to the extra funding being made available from the Scottish Government for housing.
He added: “The housing associations, councils and government need to do all we can to work together.”
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said more housing needed to be built across the country to “meaningfully tackle” the housing shortage.
Mr Brown said: “The picture in Aberdeenshire of 13,636 families and individuals stuck on the council waiting list for years and years waiting for a home of their own is symptomatic of Scotland’s housing crisis.
“Across Scotland there are more than 150,000 households on local authority waiting lists. If we are going to meaningfully tackle Scotland’s housing crisis and bring hope to all those on waiting lists – including more than 4,000 children living in temporary accommodation – we need to see at least 10,000 homes for social rent built each year for the foreseeable future.”