Scotland cost-of-living crisis: Number of Scots being made homeless due to housing costs rises sharply

Scotland’s cost-of-living crisis is worsening, as new figures show more and more Scots are being made homeless due to racking up rent arrears or defaulting on their mortgage.

The number of people declared homeless due to eviction in Scotland has nearly doubled, figures show, as more Scots face housing uncertainty.

Scottish Government figures show the number of homeless applications made to local authorities has risen by 9 per cent from 2021/22 to 2022/23.

This increase is largely due to housing uncertainty. Over the same period, the number of people declaring themselves homeless due to eviction from a private tenancy has increased from 262 to 455. Similarly, the number of homeless applications due to defaulting on a mortgage has soared from 108 to 178.

The number of people declaring themselves homeless due to eviction from a private tenancy has increased from 262 to 455 between 2021/22 and 2022/23.

Scottish Labour has criticised both Westminster and Holyrood governments for “chronic inaction” and said both the Tories and the SNP “should hang their heads in shame”.

Scottish Labour spokesperson Mark Griffin said: “The fact that these figures have risen so drastically in just one year is a damning indictment of both governments’ chronic inaction on this crisis.

“The Tory mortgage bombshell has already put thousands of Scots at risk, but instead of offering any real support, the SNP has left Scots to weather this storm alone.

“These numbers are likely to only get even worse over time unless more is done to offer support to people at risk of losing their home or rented accommodation. The fact that these numbers spiked despite the rent freeze shows more must be done.

“Unlike the SNP and the Tories, Scottish Labour has a plan to offer emergency support to help people keep their homes with our mortgage rescue scheme and proposals across the UK to make offering mortgage support mandatory.”

The figures have been published after it was revealed this week a record number of Scots were living in temporary accommodation, with the number of households classed as homeless increasing by 10 per cent last year.

Scottish Government figures showed almost 10,000 children were living in temporary accommodation in 2022/23. Housing minister Paul McLennan has described the statistics as “deeply worrying”.

A spokesperson for the UK Government said “the best thing we can do to help” mortgage holders and renters “is to drive down inflation and our plan to halve it this year is working, with the majority of external forecasters expecting us to achieve our ambition”.

“Our mortgage charter, covering 90 per cent of the mortgage market, is already helping people get through this difficult time by giving extra protections against repossessions and making it easier to manage monthly repayments,” the spokesperson said.

“That’s on top of the £3,300 on average we are giving each household to help with the cost of living over this year and last.”

The ‘mortgage charter’ sets out the standards signatory lenders will adopt when helping their customers. It includes new flexibilities permitting customers to switch to an interest only mortgage, or extend their mortgage term for six months, and reassurance that borrowers won’t lose their homes within 12 months from a missed payment without their consent or in exceptional circumstances.

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “Tackling poverty and protecting people from harm is one of three critical missions for this government. This year and last we have allocated almost £3 billion to support policies to tackle poverty.

“Although there has been an increase in homelessness applications in the latest year of statistics from people in Private Rented Tenancies, this includes a noticeable drop from October 2022 following the introduction of the Cost of living (Tenants Protection) Scotland Act that placed a cap on in-tenancy rent rises and introduced a delay in enacting evictions.

“We intend to take forward legislation to provide greater protections to prevent homelessness, keep rents affordable, and make tenancies more secure."