Too many families stuck in unstable living - Ian Murray

It’s something I see every week reflected in my constituency mailbag, and it’s heartbreaking for those going through it. More than that, it’s a shocking indictment of the SNP’s record on housing and a clear sign that something needs to change.

In March 1185 families with children in Scotland had been in temporary accommodation for over two years

The security of a good home is the foundation for everything else: opportunities, education, health, employment. A decent place to live is the bedrock on which a happy life is built. I grew up in a council flat in Wester Hailes, and I know how much having that stability did for my life chances and those of my family.

But in response to a question about the housing emergency and the number of families in temporary accommodation, John Swinney told MSPs to ‘find something else to talk about or to moan about.’

That’s all very well for him, but what about the hundreds of children who are seeing their childhoods pass by while stuck in temporary, unstable living arrangements? He has since apologised for the remark.

The kind of temporary accommodation families are living in is also a cause for concern. In recent years there’s been an explosion in the use of inappropriate temporary accommodation such as B&Bs and hostels.

In 2024-25 alone, councils across Scotland spent over £100 million on B&B and hostel temporary accommodation. That’s a 128 per cent increase compared to four years ago.

This is despite the practice being strongly criticised by homelessness charities and effectively banned under the Unsuitable Accommodation Order in May 2020. It was banned for a reason - no child should grow up in a hostel or B&B.

In Edinburgh, spending on B&B and hostel temporary accommodation has ballooned from £15.8 million in 2020/21 to £26.4 million in 2024/25. And this at a time when council budgets are under unprecedented strain and struggling to provide basic services.

All this despite the record budget settlement delivered by Labour for the Scottish Government in last year’s Autumn Budget, a settlement which the SNP voted against at Westminster.

At the start of this month, the SNP government published its housing emergency strategy, which committed to help only a tiny proportion of the children stuck in temporary accommodation and set no other targets.

Contrast this with the hugely ambitious targets set by the Labour Government south of the border (housing policy is devolved), where we are completely overhauling the planning system and aiming to build 1.5 million homes over the course of this Parliament.

In addition, the Spending Review confirmed an enormous £39 billion investment in social and affordable housing over the next 10 years. The ambitions are of a completely different magnitude to the paltry pledges offered by the SNP.

The Scottish Government announced a Housing emergency in Scotland and immediately decimated the housing budget. As usual, they are all headlines and no action.

A Scottish Labour government would tackle Scotland’s housing shortage and ensure that every child has somewhere to call home.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​