This year’s Scottish Budget debate, due in the Scottish Parliament chamber today, will take place with the homelessness system under extraordinary pressure.

As the cost-of-living crisis rages on, more people are finding it harder to get by. Those who were previously comfortable are beginning to struggle, and more people who were previously just about managing are finding themselves being pushed closer to homelessness.

We can see that growing pressure in our frontline services, with more people forced to come through our doors in search of help. And we can see it in new research, from Heriot-Watt University, forecasting a 33 per cent rise in homelessness by 2026 unless we see a significant change in policy from both the UK and Scottish governments.

A cityscape view of Edinburgh, which has declared a housing emergency, as cuts were announced in the Scottish Budget. Picture: Getty Images

We can also see proof of it on the front page of last weekend’s Scotland on Sunday, uncovering evidence of families being sent huge distances, including down to Coventry, to receive support.

The first line of foreword to the 2024/25 draft Budget, written by deputy first minister Shona Robison, says “Budgets are about choices”.

The report says: “They are a distillation of what defines a government, a demonstration in pounds and pence of its priorities and its values.”

In that context, plans to cut the housing budget by nearly £200 million are deeply concerning. Representing a 26 per cent reduction in spending – compared to a 4 per cent cut in the overall budget – they will make it harder to meet Scottish Government targets to build 110,000 new affordable homes, with 70,000 for social rent, by 2032.

Cutting that spending won’t just make it harder to build more houses, it will make it harder to meet Scotland’s other aspirations as a nation. Because increasing housing supply doesn’t just help tackle homelessness. By lowering housing costs, it frees up people’s income to spend elsewhere. For many, lower housing costs will mean staying above the breadline.

Homelessness causes poverty and poverty causes homelessness. We’ve long known how homelessness impacts on other areas of our society, from the revolving door between homelessness and the criminal justice system, to the pressure the health impact of homelessness puts on the NHS.

Taking pressure off the homelessness system, through investing in affordable and social homes, and through preventing homelessness from happening in the first place, will also take pressure off stretched public services.

New plans from the Scottish Government to prevent homelessness, expected in the upcoming Housing Bill, will also help reduce that pressure. By allowing people to get help earlier and by widening responsibility for homelessness prevention across public services, we can stop people losing their homes, and end the knock-on effects homelessness causes across the NHS, justice system and beyond.

But, again, these plans need to be properly funded, with homelessness services provided with the resources they need to continue to operate, alongside investment in social and affordable homes.

What we really need is a Budget that prioritises ending homelessness.

The deputy first minister is right, this budget is about choices, and it’s vital that the Scottish Government puts ending homelessness at the centre of decision-making.

- Matt Downie is the chief executive of homelessness charity Crisis

Scottish Budget: Why Scottish Government must prioritise homelessness, not housing budget cuts - Matt Downie

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