Scottish Labour has said that if the Scottish Government knew how to tackle the housing crisis, it would have done it by now – but the SNP has insisted that housing is its top priority.
MSPs last year voted to declare a housing emergency thanks to a combination of sluggish housebuilding figures and record homelessness rates. However despite the declaration, the number of people who declared themselves homeless continued to rise.
First Minster John Swinney appointed Mairi McAllan to the role of Housing Secretary upon her return from maternity leave, making the post a cabinet-level position.
But Scottish Labour housing spokesman Mark Griffin has criticised the new minister’s first month in the job, after she told the Herald she was still working to understand the “lay of the land” and would come forward with an “emergency” plan to tackle the housing crisis “as soon as I can”.
Mr Griffin said: “It’s clear that it doesn’t matter who John Swinney shuffles into ministerial jobs – the SNP are out of steam, out of ideas, and running out of time.
“Mairi McAllan’s dismal start as Housing Secretary has been marked by an admission that she has no plan to tackle the housing crisis and has no idea how many people are stuck on social housing waiting lists.
“The reality is that after nearly two decades of the SNP, thousands of Scots are stuck on endless social housing waiting lists and 10,000 children stuck in temporary accommodation with nowhere to call home.
“Not only has the SNP failed to tackle the housing emergency, it has also fanned the flames of the crisis by letting housebuilding plummet.
“If the SNP had any idea how to tackle the housing emergency that’s grown on their watch, we’d have seen it by now.”
But a spokesman for Ms McAllan said: “Labour’s problem is that people only have to look south of the border to see that Labour in power makes things worse.
“Since the SNP took office we have made housing a top priority – we have delivered 47% more affordable homes per head of the population than in England, and 73% more than in Labour-run Wales.
“We are stepping our actions since we declared a housing emergency. We increased the affordable housing budget by £200 million in this year’s budget, which Labour failed to support, and so far have brought almost 1,000 empty homes back into use.
“Since the Cabinet Secretary took office a few weeks ago she has been carefully considering a range of further expedited measures which she will announce in due course.
“We will leave Labour to their personal attacks – we will get on with delivering for the people of Scotland.”