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Half a million Scottish households living in inadequate housing, research finds
More than 500,000 households in Scotland are living in inadequate homes, according to research commissioned by council housing directors.
More than a fifth of all households in the country, a total of 547,000, live in homes that do not meet their needs for two or more reasons, the study for the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) found.
But a lack of clear data means that the Scottish government may not have a clear picture of the state of housing in the country and so cannot be sure its policies are working, the report suggests.
John Mills, co-chair of ALACHO, said the report is “intended to move the debate on the human right to housing firmly into the field of policy, programmes and resource allocations”.
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He added: “What we found is that answering these questions is difficult because we simply lack the information we need to understand the situation.
“But based on what we do have, there are many families, owners as well as tenants, who may be living in homes that fall short of meeting their rights, including those with disabilities, those facing domestic abuse, and many families struggling to pay for their home each month or to keep themselves warm in winter.”
Professor Ken Gibb, director of the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence, added: “This excellent and timely report reminds that it is not enough to mandate a human right to adequate housing; we need to define it, operationalise it and resource the capacity to address it.”
The report was produced by Gillian Young, co-founder and director of Newhaven Research.
