2024 Aberdeen Housing Emergency
Donna Hutchison - September 2024
Yesterday I signed an open letter along with colleagues in our sector, calling upon Aberdeen City Council to declare a housing emergency.
Taking this step has not been something we take lightly. We stand steadfast alongside Aberdeen City Council as they grapple with the wide-ranging challenges that are putting pressure on an unsustainable system. We recognise the enormous amount of work that is ongoing to tackle these issues and value the collaborative, cross-party, cross-cause work that is ongoing to alleviate, prevent, and minimise homelessness.
Our hope is that in doing so, we can bring more urgent action to this emergency. There is no one single solution to ending this crisis, but working together, we believe more action is necessary to addressing it.
We believe that the people of Aberdeen deserve more and without taking action, we will be failing to prevent the damage being caused to people’s lives.
At yesterday’s Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee Meeting, the committee passed a cross-party motion declaring a housing emergency in the city and for an action plan to tackle homelessness and increase housing supply.
I’ve spent the last week working on the floor at our crisis centre (Direct Access Service) in Summer Street witnessing first-hand the growing need and desperation this crisis is causing. More and more people are presenting that are:
rough sleeping,
being moved on from temporary housing,
in work yet not able to afford basic essentials, and
a hidden population of people affected by homelessness who are sofa surfing with no stability or certainty in their lives.
In 2019, we saw around 30 people per day. Now, we see up to 70 people a day. These are the realities of poverty and crisis in Aberdeen. Without change, there is nothing that will prevent this from continuing to worsen.
As John Swinney puts forward the Scottish Government’s Programme for Business, we must recognise that the number one item on the agenda: Child Poverty, has deep rooted causes with far reaching impact.
Children are part of families that are struggling every day, making heart-breaking choices between eating and heating, suffering health consequences of poor housing conditions, living with the erosion of mental wellbeing through stress and uncertainty, can be living in fear of violence and abuse, and that struggle to concentrate and thrive in school without their essential needs of wellbeing, safety, and security being met.
Without a safe, stable and affordable place to call home, children are prevented from thriving, as are the thousands of people of all ages that we support.
We stand beside Aberdeen City Council as well as partners and colleagues in housing associations, house builders, the private and third sectors; ready and willing to play our part to address the challenges of this emergency.
To do this we need to explore the key actions for Aberdeen city as a whole which:
increases the supply of social homes
prevents homelessness in the first place (not all of which are within the scope of Aberdeen City Council) and
enables an exit from homelessness
We look forward to the opportunity to establishing a homeless system which is rapid in response, dignified and reflective of a human rights-based choice.
Dear Aberdeen City Councillors,
We, as frontline housing, homelessness and social justice organisations in Aberdeen, are writing to urge you to vote to declare a housing emergency at the Communities, Housing and Public Protection Committee on the 5th September 2024.
Scotland is in the grip of a devastating housing emergency -the result of decades of underinvestment in social housing, welfare changes, Covid-19, the cost-of-living crisis, and the war in Ukraine. The Scottish Government recognises that this is a national problem, however the housing emergency affects different parts of Scotland in different ways. The challenge is more acute in certain areas, including in Aberdeen. Aberdeen’s housing emergency is evidenced by:
The council’s homelessness services are under increasing pressure with the number of open homelessness cases rising by 64% in one year.
The number of children and households trapped in temporary homeless accommodation are at record highs – with the number of households in temporary accommodation rising by 69% in one year.
Scottish Housing Regulator’s report showed that Aberdeen City’s housing system is at heightened risk of systemic failure.
People are often placed in temporary accommodation which is unsuitable to their needs.
350 council properties deemed to be unsafe due to the presence of RAAC.
‘Business as usual’ is not working, and inaction is continuing to damage the lives and opportunities of thousands of people in Aberdeen. An emergency requires an emergency response. We believe that declaring a housing emergency in Aberdeen, and acknowledging the scale of the problem, is an important first step towards fixing our broken housing system.
Passing a declaration must only be the beginning. It took more than a generation to break the housing system and it will take many more years to turn it around. Declaring an emergency must be matched by committing to an action plan that involves tenants, businesses, the third sector and the communities worst affected by the housing emergency. This way Aberdeen City Council can take the lead in tackling the root causes of the housing emergency.
As frontline organisations and critical friends of Aberdeen City Council, we will continue to advocate for our clients and challenge individual council decisions where we think it necessary. We recognise however that the Council alone cannot be expected to pick up the pieces of a failing system when the levers for change often sit with the UK and Scottish Governments.
The citizens of Aberdeen need our councillors to be bold, take the lead and show that by coming together we can face up to the scale of the emergency. We are willing to stand alongside you and play our part. Please support calls to declare a housing emergency in Aberdeen and commit to taking action to address it.
Signed by:
Alison Watson, Director, Shelter Scotland
Josh Littlejohn, Executive Director and Founder, Social Bite
Peter Kelly, Chief Executive Officer, Poverty Alliance
Donna Hutchison, Chief Executive Officer, Aberdeen Cyrenians
Leona McDermid, Chief Executive Officer, Aberdeen Foyer
Aileen Forbes, CEO, Grampian Women’s Aid
Ali Elder, Homelessness Prevention Coordinator – North Scotland, Bethany Christian Trust
Kristi Kelly, Bureau Manager, Aberdeen Citizens Advice Bureau
Sophy Green, Chief Executive, Instant Neighbour
Susan Bains, Project Co-ordinator NRPF (No Recourse to Public Funds)
WHY IS IT NEEDED?
- Statistics collated thanks to Shelter Scotland
