Social housing tenants left in "substandard housing" with £6m repair backlog

Scotland’s social housing tenants have been left needing nearly £6m of repairs, new figures have revealed, with the Scottish Conservatives accusing the Scottish Government of leaving vulnerable families in “substandard housing”.

Social housing tenants are being left in poorly maintained homes, new figures have revealed, as Scotland’s housing repairs backlog has reached nearly £6m.

Figures released via freedom of information legislation show that in 2022/23, Scotland’s housing maintenance backlog hit £5,741,501.

The real figure is likely much higher, as five authorities - Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire - said they did not hold the information, while East Lothian wanted to be paid for the information and East Dunbartonshire failed to respond.

Figures released via freeform of information legislation show that in 2022/23, Scotland’s housing maintenance backlog hit £5,741,501.

The local authority with the largest backlog, Highland, has £886,502 worth of repairs to carry out, while Midlothian has £763,705 and Dumfries and Galloway has £500,000. In Edinburgh, the local authority has yet to carry out £390,042 worth of repairs.

Scottish Conservative shadow secretary for social security, housing and equalities, Miles Briggs, said it is “astonishing” that nearly £6m worth of repairs to social housing have still not been carried out “over a year after they were supposed to be finished”, with the true figure likely to be even higher

“Too many vulnerable people – including families with young children – are living in substandard social housing that barely offers the bare necessities, yet the SNP are still failing to get a grip on the housing crisis,” said Mr Briggs.

“The SNP have brutally slashed the housing budget and vital funding for local authorities, leaving our cash strapped councils struggling to direct resources towards these essential repairs.

“Ministers must take urgent action to ensure that councils have the funding required to carry out the essential repairs to social housing as quickly as possible and avoid people living in properties that are not fit for purpose.”

The Scottish Government has cut the Housing and Building Standards Budget by more than £200m in cash terms.

In 2023/24, the SNP government allocated £738.8m to the Housing and Buildings standards budget, but for 2024/25 the government has allocated just £533.2m.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government recognises the crucial role councils play in local communities, which is why we have decided in increase Local Government’s overall share of the 2024-25 Scottish Budget.

“Despite the UK Government’s Autumn Statement delivering a worst-case scenario for Scotland’s finances, we continue to invest in key services and priorities. The Scottish Government is making available record funding of more than £14 billion to councils in 2024-25 – a real-terms increase of 3.2% compared with the previous year if the our Council Tax Freeze is accepted.”