The party will use today’s meeting of the parliamentary bureau to request a statement from Humza Yousaf in the week ahead.

The call follows a similar letter from Shelter Scotland asking that a statement be made in Holyrood before the Easter recess.

Scottish Labour and Shelter Scotland both now written to the First Minister in the wake of the Scottish budget, which saw funding for affordable housing slashed by £196 million – at the same time as nearly 10,000 children face life in temporary accommodation in Scotland without a home to call their own.

Mark Griffin said: “The Scottish Government are in complete denial about the scale of the housing emergency in Scotland.

“In the face of record high homelessness, rents and mortgages spiralling, and housebuilding plummeting, the Scottish Government response has been to cut the housing budget by 26%.

“This is a bitter blow to the nearly 10,000 children living in temporary accommodation in Scotland today, without a home to call their own.

“Such a devastating cut to the housing budget will only result in more and more children forced into homelessness, their calls to find them a home simply falling on deaf ears.

“Not only are the Scottish Government standing idly by and watching a worsening housing situation in Scotland, but their budget cuts are actively making it worse.

“Humza Yousaf must wake up, listen to the demands of Shelter Scotland, and outline to parliament how he intends to respond to what can only be described as a housing emergency.”

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, said: “Whether or not the First Minister is willing to acknowledge it, the fact is that we are in the middle of a housing emergency.

“Nearly 10,000 children are trapped in temporary accommodation, when it comes to housing local authorities are breaking the law on an unprecedented scale, and record numbers of people are stuck in the homelessness system. If that is not a housing emergency, then what is?

“Standing by and watching as an already dire situation deteriorates even further is not an option. We need to see a plan of action that can deliver change before the next set of homelessness statistics are published in August later this year.

“The Scottish Government chose to deprioritise housing in its budget by imposing an enormous cut which was entirely disproportionate to the reduction in total funding available to it.

“Now that the dust has settled on both the UK and Scottish government’s budget, ministers have a responsibility to come before parliament and set out exactly how they intend to respond to a housing emergency which continues to get worse on their watch.”

“The 10,000 children in Scotland with nowhere to call home shouldn’t be made to wait a day longer.”

Propertymark has also urged the Scottish Government to resolve the country’s ongoing housing emergency.

Timothy Douglas, head of policy and campaigns at Propertymark, said: “Mr Yousaf must listen and then promptly act on what is unwinding across Scotland’s housing sector. It is an unacceptable situation that we are witnessing an increasing number of local councils declaring housing emergencies. The housing budget from the Scottish Government has been cut and Propertymark are concerned that additional local authorities may also turn to calling housing emergencies across Scotland if ongoing concerns are not resolved with urgency.

“Ill-conceived legislation which formed parts of the Cost of Living Bill has proven catastrophic, and Rent Caps have made many landlords extremely cautious regarding investment against a challenging backdrop of higher inflation and interest rates. The proposed transition period within the updated legislation between 1 April 2024 to 1 April 2025 maybe too little too late to support landlords who have already exited the sector or are planning to exit.”

Scottish Labour’s letter to First Minister Humza Yousaf is outlined below.

Dear First Minister,

RE: SHELTER’S LETTER TO THE FIRST MINISTER OF 11 MARCH 2024 REQUESTING A PARLIAMENTARY STATEMENT ON HOUSING

A housing emergency is gripping Scotland.

• There were 40,024 homelessness applications made in Scotland between October 2022 and September 2023
• Crisis Scotland estimates homelessness will rise by a third by 2026
• Almost 10,000 children are in temporary accommodation
• Nearly 700,000 people in Scotland are in at least one form of housing need, according to Homes for Scotland research
• 129,900 people are on waiting lists for social housing

Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Argyll and Bute Councils have declared housing emergencies, with more local authorities slated to follow. Aberdeen Council is under extreme pressure after the discovery of RAAC in people’s homes leading to temporary evictions. Key stakeholders, most recently the Chartered Institute of Housing, have also declared a housing emergency.

In the face of this, the Scottish Government has reduced affordable housing budgets by 26%. There seems to be no rationale which can explain this response.

MSPs have repeatedly asked the Scottish Government to acknowledge the housing emergency that is staring it in the face, to no avail. The Housing Minister himself has repeatedly ignored the existence of a housing emergency in Parliament.

Yesterday, Shelter Scotland wrote to you asking, in light of the unique and shocking situation, for an emergency statement before Easter Recess, inviting you to set out the actions the Scottish Government will take to end the housing emergency. I urge you to respond with a commitment to Shelter and the Scottish public to take accountability for the emergency on the floor of the Scottish Parliament.

The housing emergency impacts on every one in Scotland’s life. It puts excess pressure on public services. It exacerbates child poverty. It negatively affects education and health outcomes. It harms our economy and prevents growth. 80% of voters believe Scotland to likely be in a housing crisis. We need an acknowledgement of reality from the First Minister, and the assurance of an action plan that cuts across government departments, demonstrating your commitment to ending the emergency, and the human misery it encompasses.

Given the numbers of people impacted by the situation, and the self-evident public interest, I believe that the public would expect you to agree to Shelter’s call, be accountable to Parliament by agreeing to a statement in the Chamber before Easter Recess.

I await your response,

Mark Griffin