At a meeting of the Full Council yesterday, Cllr Judy Hamilton, spokesperson for housing, said the council is facing unprecedented pressure on housing and homelessness services – a pressure that’s being felt across Scotland and the wider UK.

She added: “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 £2m revenue funding for temporary accommodation announced by the Scottish Government prior to December 2023.”

A motion put forward by Cllr Hamilton urged the council to make the declaration in the wake of soaring waiting lists and record homelessness figures.

The council has recently agreed a three-year plan to tackle homelessness which highlighted the need for an estimated £67.3 million to help the escalating number of families without permanent housing.

Cllr Hamilton added: “We have written to the UK Government ahead of their budget; we have written to the Scottish Government, and I have met with the Housing Minister to highlight that we are in a difficult situation in Fife, and call upon them for assistance.

“Despite giving ourselves the best chance, we now have no choice but to declare that we are in a housing emergency. The pressure on our services is relentless.”

The council has also escalated concerns through the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA), the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO).

Councillor Hamilton said: “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 7400 houses. We have committed to building a further 1250 Council houses in Fife over the next five years, as part of the Affordable Housing Programme. Our ability to keep building is now compromised.”

Councillor Hamilton concluded: “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.”

Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh and Glasgow councils have all previously declared housing emergencies. Edinburgh has since published a draft Housing Emergency Action Plan to begin to address its concerns while Argyll and Bute held a Housing Emergency Summit to bring partners together to pledge commitments aimed at increasing supply. 

Earlier this year, councillors in Fife warned that they would have no choice but to follow unless the council receives urgent financial support.