Councillors in Aberdeen have declared a housing emergency in the city due to a shortage of affordable homes.
A national housing emergency was declared by the Scottish Government back in May, and yesterday Aberdeen City Councillors agreed a cross-party approach to tackle the crisis facing the Granite City.
The motion put forward by Councillors Miranda Radley and Dell Henrickson calls for the creation of a Housing Emergency Action Plan to tackle homelessness and the demand for housing.
The council has called for a round table meeting with both the Scottish and UK governments to discuss the financial impact of RAAC on the Council and seek any additional funding to help meet the short-term rehoming costs and the longer-term rebuild phases.
Councillor Miranda Radley said: “I welcome the cross party agreement around the chamber to the declaration of a housing emergency in the city. It is vitally important that there is continued support across the chamber for the action plan, so that we can work together to do what is best for the city and communities and families affected by the housing emergency.
“We will establish a cross-party working group of Councillors to monitor progress on the housing emergency plan. The housing emergency action plan will help to align council teams and city-wide strategies to deliver the shared goal of tackling the housing crisis in the city."
The council established a Housing Board in March this year to identify risks through the Housing Service, and this will oversee the action plan. The first bi-annual report on progress towards this will be presented to the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee in November 2024.
Work is already ongoing between the council, registered social landlords and other sector partners to deliver homes as part of the homewards programme.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “Since 2007, Scotland has supported the delivery of more than 131,000 affordable homes, with more than 93,000 of those being for social rent.
"We will invest nearly £600million in affordable housing in 2024-25, the majority of which will be for social rent. This year, Aberdeen City Council will receive at least £12.1million.
“We have also made record funding available to councils to deliver a range of services, including tackling homelessness, of more than £14billion in 2024-25 – a real-terms increase of 4.3% compared with the previous year.
"In addition, the homelessness prevention measures in the housing bill aim to ensure shared public responsibility and earlier intervention to prevent homelessness.”