Ex-SNP minister fronts new campaign blasting Scotland's homelessness 'disaster'
An ex-SNP housing minister is fronting a new campaign slamming the Scottish Government for failing to tackle the nation’s “housing and homelessness disaster”.Former MSP Alex Neil spoke exclusively to the Sunday Mail as he unveiled proposals by the Scottish Tenants Organisation (STO) to massively ramp up investment in social homes programmes.Despite his former colleagues at Holyrood declaring a national housing emergency, Neil warned measures to date had “barely touched the sides” in addressing the crisis with thousands of children and their families without a permanent home.And he blasted the current crop of SNP ministers as having no proper plan and being “resistant to new ideas”.The 74-year-old, who served in Cabinets under both Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon, said bold proposals he put forward in a paper two years ago to raise up to £20billion for housebuilding through pension fund investment had been ignored.Neil said: “We have a major homelessness problem in Scotland. Ten thousand children every night don’t know where they’re going to be and end up, in most cases, in very unsuitable accommodation.“We have 250,000 people waiting for a council house or a social house.“We also have another 200,000-300,000 houses where people are living that are unfit for human habitation.“In total, we truly have a crisis - yet the reality is the number of houses being built has actually gone down since the parliament declared a housing emergency.”He said a new independent national house-building company could be set up to supercharge new homes construction - funded by billions he insisted could be made available via pension funds and long-term bonds.Instead, he said the Scottish Government had set up “another quango which will take three years to get up and running and will be entirely bureaucratic, with no new money”.John Swinney last month announced the new arms-length agency More Homes Scotland created to accelerate housebuilding.Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan also launched an emergency £4.9billion plan to tackle the housing crisis in September. But we previously told how experts warn this is barely half of what’s needed to meet housing demand.Neil, who is still an SNP member but has become a persistent critic of the party’s policies in government, said: “They’re kidding us on that they’re fundamentally tackling this problem.“And in five, ten years time, if this is not tackled now, we will be homeless nation.“There will be many, many more children and adults without a proper home - and that’s unacceptable in this day and age.“Mairi McAllan’s plan is welcome but it’s nowhere near enough.”We joined Neil and activists with the STO in Govan last week as they published a manifesto calling for a “housing revolution” ahead of May’s election.Demands include land taxes on wealthy landowners, safe council-run temporary housing for women and families, the scrapping of homeless hotels, and a reduction in private and social rents.Mum-of-four Carrie-anne McGill, from Glasgow, who we previously told spent seven weeks shunted between grim hotels and B&Bs with her kids after declaring herself homeless, said: “If policies like this were in place now, I might not have been in as bad a situation.“The politicians should be doing everything they can to fix this instead of leaving it to get worse.”Sean Clerkin, campaigns coordinator for the STO, said: “We want each political party to develop an action plan, and if they’re not prepared to double the number of public sector homes being built, they’re not worth voting for.“We want them to respond to this manifesto which has been endorsed by Alex Neil, the best housing minister since devolution.”Neil added: “Over the next 12 weeks, power over the politicians lies in the hands of the people.“One of the demands that people have to make is a proper plan and funding to solve the housing crisis.”Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan said: "The Draft 2026-27 Scottish Budget includes the single largest funding allocation to affordable housing in Scotland since records began in 1989. Our Spending Review complements this uplift with the greatest multi-annual funding certainty ever provided.“The Scottish Government is serious in our ambition to tackle the housing emergency and the funding proposed in the Budget marks a step-change, ensuring more families will have the opportunity to live in a warm, safe and affordable home with the many benefits that brings.“That’s why we have announced our intention to establish a new national housing agency with a focus on simplicity, scale and speed to enable the delivery of housing of all types, helping to meet housing need across Scotland.”
