I thank the minister for advance sight of his statement, and I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests.

Timescales for action are already slipping since the first heat in buildings strategy was published. Why will the legislation take two years to introduce, given that people need to have homes now that are affordable to heat and power?

We have been told that £33 billion is needed to implement the strategy, so where will the money come from? People do not need warm words; they need warm homes, and they need Scottish Government leadership.

Given the failure to spend £133 million on retrofitting last year, what lessons have been learned to ensure that people are not ripped off when they try to do the right thing?

Given the impact of fuel poverty on the 38 per cent of households that experience it and the 30 per cent in extreme fuel poverty, what lessons has the First Minister learned from the failure to deliver £133 million of investment to make people’s homes energy efficient so that people can afford to heat them? What will happen for next year? How many homes will get that energy retrofitting in place?

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill is currently being considered by the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. Although it is largely a recycling bill that focuses predominantly on household waste, has the minister considered how it could be improved in order to ensure that a circular economy is achieved across our industrial sectors such as renewables, where we will see huge investment? Will he support amendments at stages 2 and 3 that cover those sectors to deliver the huge, joined-up opportunities and action on green jobs that we need?

The challenge is not the willingness of people to work together, whether it be with the voluntary sector, with the councils or even through talking to the minister—it is the finance. Yes, it is good to get a small amount of money to bring some empty homes back into use, but local authorities need more resources to tackle the situation properly. We have now had several round-table meetings in Edinburgh alone, as the minister knows, with MSPs, tenants, students, universities, the council and key stakeholders coming together. We need more than warm words—we need action now.

I have met people in the streets, listened to their personal stories of how they ended up homeless and heard about the massive personal cost to them and their families. It is critical that we prevent homelessness in the first place. Our housing charities do an amazing job, but there are queues around the buildings where people get support. Women have ended up rough sleeping after experiencing domestic violence, and there are families living in rooms that have bed bugs and nowhere to cook food. We have a systemic crisis. This Parliament needs to come together, admit that and act, because the situation does not reflect the equality, opportunity and community that the minister has said that he would like to see.

The City of Edinburgh Council saw that it was facing this crisis and came together, across the parties, to declare a housing emergency. We are going to hear from colleagues who have seen significant pressures on families in constituencies across Scotland. Scotland is facing a housing emergency, so we need to act. We need to take Edinburgh’s lead, look at the crisis that we are facing and start to invest, support our councils and our housing providers and bring to an end the situation of thousands of homes lying vacant for far too long—

No—I want to crack on.

As well as the financial burden, there have been missed economic opportunities to create jobs in our local communities and supply chains. There is a massive human impact. Warm, safe and affordable accommodation is the bedrock that everybody needs for their lives, and the knock-on impact of not having somewhere safe and affordable to live is massive.

Evidence from Crisis suggests that 45 per cent of people who are homeless suffer from poor mental health. For those who are rough sleeping, the figure rises to eight in 10 people. The fact that people’s mental health begins to deteriorate within 72 hours of becoming homeless illustrates why we need everyone to have access to a home.

Moreover, the impact of homelessness on a child can be catastrophic for their academic outcomes as well as for their emotional wellbeing and opportunities in life. An estimated 9,000 children are in temporary accommodation across Edinburgh—that is 9,000 children in Edinburgh alone. Children are being let down, because of the failure to deal with this housing emergency. Just think of being one of those kids’ parents and imagine the huge pressure that they are under. We must do better; we must give every one of those children—and their families—the opportunity to learn and develop and have a safe home.

This crisis goes way further than the numbers suggest. Students have already been mentioned in the chamber; the figures do not include the 14 per cent of students in Edinburgh who have experienced homelessness this year at some point during their studies. We now have 100,000 students in Edinburgh, so that 14 per cent represents a significant number of young people forced to sofa surf or commute from further afield, both of which have a detrimental impact on their ability to learn.

If we are going to solve the issue, we need to act urgently. Local authorities need additional support and resources to make the difference that is needed. We need to bring more empty homes back into use.

We need the Scottish Government to do the heavy lifting because, without leadership, our constituents are being let down. That is not acceptable.

I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests in relation to my former employment.

Edinburgh’s housing shortage has been getting worse for years. On 2 November, as colleagues have acknowledged, the City of Edinburgh Council unanimously declared a housing emergency, recognising that we are in the depths of a housing crisis that touches all aspects of society.

Housing is one of the key issues on which people ask me, as a representative, for help. Families from all backgrounds contact me about the perilous situation in which they find themselves. We urgently need action and investment, because, at the moment, we are not getting them the homes that they urgently need. As of 30 October this year, nearly 5,000 families were being housed in temporary accommodation; that figure is up from 3,500 in March 2020, and it is expected only to rise as our population continues to grow.

As has been acknowledged, despite Edinburgh being our capital, it has the lowest proportion of affordable social rented homes in the country—only 16 per cent compared with the national average of 24 per cent—so it is no surprise that people are struggling to find somewhere safe and affordable to live. A recent council report highlighted that there are, on average, 197 bids for every available house. That means that, time after time, families are refused suitable housing, because there are simply not enough homes available.

The picture in the private rented sector is just as bad. We have lost homes to the short-term let sector, and private sector rents in Edinburgh are the highest in Scotland, with the average rent being in excess of £1,400 a month, or £400 more than the Scottish average. That figure is due only to rise, despite the rent freeze and the eviction ban.

That is very useful. The challenge is how that actually happens if this piece of legislation is to be successfully implemented.

You have mentioned compliance and awareness, which several people have raised today. What are the challenges and the opportunities in respect of the financial memorandum? I think that the money must be spent upfront before any income comes in. I do not know whether either Gail Macgregor or Rhona Gunn wants to come in on their estimates of the gap between expenditure and income.

That is very useful to get on the record. I visited a local authority and saw its fantastic new infrastructure. However, it had to fund that. Its comment was, “If everybody needs this infrastructure, we will need the supply chains and we will need the investment.” That is not in the local authority budget, so the Scottish Government will need to step in. Thanks for your feedback.

That is very helpful, that idea about clarity for supply chains and investment. I suppose the challenge is how you use the opportunity of this legislation and the discussions around it to get that. Thank you very much.