Amid uniquely difficult housing crisis, voices of homeless people must not become white noise

Scotland is living through a period of high housing, food and energy costs, which is pushing some people into homelessness

I have been the chief executive for Cyrenians, a homelessness prevention charity, for 11 years now. In that time, words like ‘unprecedented’, ‘historical’ and ‘crisis’ have been cropping with increasing frequency. And not without reason.

For a combination of circumstances – some the result of bad choices by those running the country, some out of our control – we are facing a uniquely difficult time. Housing costs are soaring and very few people have escaped the impact of the rapidly rising food and energy costs in recent years.

Many of us may have become immune to phrases like ‘the cost-of-living crisis’ and ‘housing emergency’, and I understand why. Ultimately, our day-to-day lives are shaped by our own particular context.

If you are already living on very little, it does not take much more pressure on your income to lose your home (Picture: Phil Wilkinson) | Cyrenians

Long waiting list for social housing

The seemingly constant barrage of bad news can be overwhelming and it’s as much as we can do to focus on whatever needs to be done on whatever given day to keep ourselves and our families afloat.

However, for some, these phrases represent a fundamental blow to their quality of life. If you are already living on very little, or are in an unstable situation, it does not take much more pressure on your household income for payments to be missed or for tensions between family members to rise. Before you know it, you are presenting as homeless at a time when the average waiting time for social housing is several years.

For these people, macro-economic trends quickly become personal. Headlines may report that the Housing Regulator has warned of a “systemic failure” but it can be difficult to understand what that means until, one cold spring day, you find yourself with nowhere to sleep that night and, turning for help, you are told the council has no accommodation to offer you.

Cyrenians’ services are designed to help people who find themselves either at risk of or about to be homeless, or experiencing it. Through our 50 services, our staff work wonders to mitigate the many challenges that the people we support face. It is their collective knowledge, experience, empathy and expertise that keep many people afloat during the most difficult time of their life.

Lived experience

It is these people who really know what it practically means for our country to be weathering a simultaneous cost-of-living crisis and housing emergency. They live it every day.

To that end, I am thrilled that Cyrenians will – as of this month – be publishing a regular column in The Scotsman dedicated to people in our community who see and feel the impact of the housing and cost-of-living emergencies most acutely. Every month, a person we support, a volunteer or a staff member will write an article detailing their experience – what they are seeing, what they are feeling and what they believe needs to be done.

Because if we are going to move past this period of history, it is imperative that we are led by the people who know what the stakes are – we cannot afford to let their voices become white noise.

Ewan Aitken is chief executive of homelessness prevention charity Cyrenians