Housing

TheHomesWeNeed250Scotland faces a massive crisis in the availability, the cost and the quality of our housing. There were more than 150,000 people on local authority housing waiting lists across Scotland in 2015, a level over 30% higher than in 2004. Yet the social housing stock has declined.

Shelter has estimated that we need to build at least 12,000 affordable houses each year to meet current and future need.
UNISON Scotland believes that housing has been left to the market for too long. The market has failed to deliver. The private owned and private rented sectors cannot address the shortage.

This housing crisis requires a massive programme of social housing investment from the public sector. In our policy paper Making Homes for a Fairer Scotland we outlined a new housing programme for Scotland and we have showed how this could be funded, using some of the assets represented by public sector pension funds in our document Funding and Building the Homes Scotland Needs.

Latest news

First Minister must intervene in Bield Housing decision to close 12 care homes

Bield Housing and Care, announced yesterday (11 October) that they intend to close 12 care homes in Edinburgh, Falkirk, Glasgow, ... Read More

‘ICT should focus on providing better services not cuts’ says UNISON report

Date: Monday 30 November 2015 A UNISON Scotland report Disconnected, published today, 30 November 2015, claims that ICT services should ... Read More

Community led public services can transform inequalities, says report

Date: Thursday 22 October 2015 UNISON Labour Link Media Release - Launch of Commission on Health Inequalities report will take place at 22 ... Read More

More Housing News

Latest documents

MSP e-brief Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill Stage 1 debate

MSP e-brief Private Housing (Tenancies) Bill Stage 1 debate
UNISON Scotland believes that housing has been left to the market for too long. The market has failed to deliver ...

Briefing 71 – Why we need local government to deliver good health – Jan 2016

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KEY POINTS: Protecting spending on health services isn’t just about protecting the NHS: local government also provides direct health services ...

Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill

Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill
UNISON Scotland Evidence to the Scottish Parliament  Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee on  the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Bill Scotland ...

e-brief: Scottish Government Programme 2015-16

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e-briefing_ScotGovtProgramme2015-16_Sep2015 PDF The Scottish Government has published its programme for the final session of this parliament before next year’s election. As ...

Public Services Election – UNISON Scotland Manifesto 2015

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This Election Matters The vast majority of UNISON Scotland’s members work in areas which are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, ...

Housing: consultation on a new tenancy for the private rented sector

Housing: consultation on a new tenancy for the private rented sector
Private sector rent levels have been increasing at some of the highest rates in the UK and are now double ...
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More on briefings page