Chamber and committees

In England, a recent survey showed that 43 per cent of people trusted local councillors to work in the best interests of people in their area. Has similar research been done in Scotland, or do you plan on doing such research? From the Standards Commission point of view, how strong is the bond of trust between the public and our local councillors?

The Ethical Standards Commissioner and the Standards Commission sent a joint letter to the Scottish Government to ask that legislation be amended to give the option of finding a breach without holding a hearing. Will you expand on the reason behind that proposal?

It is helpful to hear that one of the first issues that the expert group will look at is the crossover between planning and licensing. We have seen concerns in the written evidence about the interface between planning and licensing, and claims that they work separately and sometimes at odds with each other. Minister, do you have any early plans on how those two regulatory regimes could be streamlined when it comes to applying for short-term lets, and perhaps how they could work together better?

That is really helpful. Thank you for expanding on that and giving us that update.

The next area that I want to touch on is the survey that you talked about last year, which you were planning to roll out to complainers and respondents. Your annual report says that, because the return rate was so low, you found it difficult to provide a robust analysis of the findings. Are you planning to continue that survey? Do you have any plans to try to boost the return rate?

I thank Meghan Gallacher for bringing this debate to the chamber. It strikes me that the only time that we properly debate housing issues is in Opposition time. Maybe the Government will reflect on that.

Before I address the substance of the debate, I thank Miles Briggs for raising the temporary accommodation situation in Edinburgh. Unfortunately, my urgent question on the issue was not picked, so I would appreciate any updates from the cabinet secretary or the minister on that situation, which must be absolutely terrifying for the residents of Edinburgh who are affected.

As my opening remarks set out, there are few better opportunities available to us right now than to use the Housing (Scotland) Bill to end the housing emergency that is ripping through Scotland. The Government will be aware that another council has declared a housing emergency. Only yesterday, East Lothian Council became the 13th local authority to reluctantly declare a housing emergency, citing difficulties in bringing forward sites for the development of homes. Last week, at the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee, North Lanarkshire Council talked about being in a situation in which it could declare a housing emergency. That is happening in area after area, demonstrating the urgent need for more homes.

The reason for the housing emergency is simply that we do not have enough homes. During the debate, a number of members have mentioned that we need to take urgent action to drive up the supply of new and appropriate houses.

As long as it is brief, because I am really restricted on time.

I am sorry, but I cannot give way during a four-minute speech.

Willie Rennie mentioned changes to the planning system. We welcome those changes, but we could go much further. We could radically fix the planning system, which developers say is the number 1 problem that holds up developments. Willie Rennie also said that we need those builders and developers to build the homes that we need. We should absolutely give them the confidence to build and to invest, and we should make it easier for them to do so, rather than make it more difficult.

I agree with Bob Doris and Patrick Harvie that there are important parts of the bill that we should not lose. We should have a workable system of rent regulation, we should be preventing homelessness and ensuring that public organisations play their part in that, and we should have more robust rights when it comes to evictions. We support a range of other measures in the bill, too.

However, Miles Briggs made the crucial point that there is no point in having such measures in the bill unless public authorities are funded to deliver them. After more than a decade of cuts, local authorities have no money left, which is why their homelessness prevention services are at systemic risk of failure, as set out by the Scottish Housing Regulator. That is the key issue.

The Finance and Public Administration Committee was scathing in its assessment of the bill’s financial memorandum. The key point for me, Patrick Harvie, Bob Doris and others who support such measures is that there must be proper funding. I want the bill to work, so, for it to address the current housing emergency, it should include a statement of intent, define the housing emergency and require the Government to take measures to end it.

I am always willing to engage with the cabinet secretary, the minister and others in the Government on the details, but my point remains that any housing bill must at least acknowledge the primary challenge to Scotland that the housing emergency represents, surely. I ask members to support the amendment in my name, which simply asks the Parliament to recognise the emergency situation in which we find ourselves and to start building the houses that will get us out of it.

We are quite often suspected by the public—and often by each other—of making capital from issues that affect people’s lives. Last year, there were 40,000 homeless cases across Scotland. Those of us in the Parliament have been accused of standing in the chamber, wringing our hands and doing not much about it. We are accused of repeating the same numbers at each other: 10,000 children are homeless, there are 110 deaths in our streets, one in four face a form of housing need, and there is 20 per cent less money available for affordable homes. Those accusations have been made because we are not elected to make sympathetic speeches. Our job is to pass the laws of this country in order to stop those everyday tragedies.

We have the power, motivation and means to give families the safe, warm and secure homes that they need, to prevent the harm that is being caused to them while they are homeless. When we talk about becoming MSPs to change the world, we do not mean that we will make grand, sweeping statements or gestures; we mean that we will make sure that no one is using shower or toilet water to cook their meals on our watch.

When the Government talked about introducing a housing bill, we were engaged, positive and keen to get going, because things are horrendous and we believe that we can help. However, I am not sure what has happened between the ambition and the development of the legislation, because the bill was—and is—a mess. Yes, it talks about rent controls, and we support regulation, but the gap between the legislation and the ability to deliver is a chasm. Yes, the bill talks about homelessness prevention, but cash-strapped public services have no confidence in delivering on such lofty ideals.

The widest chasm is the total lack of any mention of the number 1 issue that we face, which is that we do not have enough homes. The bill provides a golden opportunity to put solving the housing emergency at the front and centre of the Parliament’s and the Government’s mission. Instead of talking endlessly, we could do what needs to be done and get on with building houses and helping people. It seems to be a radical suggestion, but it should not be. We should be driving up the supply of homes, getting the ones that are already there back into use and getting families into them. We can—absolutely—fix this. We have the power to do it. We have a housing bill waiting and ready—

I hope that that is in the budget. For the past six months, the cabinet secretary and the minister have talked about me, as a Labour spokesperson, lobbying an incoming Government to provide additional funds. The UK Government has delivered. The Scottish Government talked about housing being its number 1 priority before it got extra money. Now that the extra money has come, it does not seem to be quite as high a priority as it once was.

We find ourselves in a situation that is not entirely surprising. Scotland is being run by a Government of wasted opportunity. We have a national care service bill that fails to deliver care, a land reform bill that does not reform land ownership, and a human rights bill that has disappeared and does not exist any more. Now, we have a housing bill that will not build a single house. The Scottish Government seems to have forgotten what it is here for, but Scottish Labour has not.

I move amendment S6M-15401.2, to insert at end:

“; calls on the Scottish Government to recognise the housing emergency in the redrafted legislation, and further calls on it to include the requirement for the Scottish Ministers to produce a strategy for the increased supply of houses in Scotland, and to report annually on its progress.”

I want to talk about what the housing system will look like in, as the convener said, the medium to longer term, as we—I hope—move out of a housing emergency, reduce homelessness and end the cycle of emergencies and crises. What do we need to do to prevent future housing emergencies while tackling the one that we are in now? What are the foundations of a sustainable housing system? I will come to Callum Chomczuk first, because you have said that some of the actions that we are taking just now to address the current crisis might feed into future crises.