Majority say Government not doing enough to curb child homelessness

A majority of people believe the Scottish Government is not doing enough to tackle child homelessness, a survey has found.

The YouGov poll, commissioned by Shelter, found 58% of people think ministers should be doing more on the issue.

Just 16% of respondents said current measures were enough.

It comes as a record 10,715 children remain in temporary homeless accommodation in Scotland.

First Minister John Swinney has made ending child poverty his defining mission in Government. He also promised in September that he would end temporary homeless accommodation for children.

The survey results were published after Shelter Scotland, Fife Gingerbread and families impacted by homelessness met with the Social Justice and Housing Secretary at the Scottish Parliament.

Shelter said Shirley-Anne Somerville was given a route map laying out what the Government must do to prevent children ending up in temporary housing, reducing the amount of time spent there and ensuring housing rights are upheld.

Gordon Llewellyn-MacRae, interim director at Shelter Scotland said: “The families at the heart of the housing emergency are not alone in their fight. We stand with them and today’s research shows that the public strongly backs the need for more action.

“A clear majority want more to be done to tackle the number of children living without a home.

“This should be a stark warning to the Government that despite many pledges, they aren’t cutting through and meaningful change has yet to be felt across Scotland.

“They must do more for the thousands of families stuck in limbo, not knowing when or where they’ll move next. That’s children with nowhere to do homework or play and no chance to thrive.

“It’s a positive step that the Cabinet Secretary met with families to hear about the impact of living in harmful environments.

“The Government must now build on this with action and real change. If ministers are serious about ending child poverty, they must end child homelessness too and this route map sets out exactly what the Government must do.

“Homelessness is not inevitable – ending it means building more social homes, more quickly. If the Government acts on this route map, they can lift thousands of children out of unsafe and harmful environments and give them and their families a real chance to thrive.”

Laura Millar, chief executive of Fife Gingerbread, said: “Every child deserves a safe place to call home where they can flourish. At Fife Gingerbread we have walked alongside families experiencing homelessness and see the enormous impact this has on the health, wellbeing and happiness of children and young people.

“The families who shaped this route map have shared their experiences with courage and honesty.

“They deserve to see that courage met with action. A secure home is not a privilege; it is a right. We now need collective action at the pace and scale this crisis demands.”

Ms Somerville said: “I am grateful to Shelter Scotland and Fife Gingerbread for their ongoing engagement as part of our shared mission to tackle homelessness, and we value the insights of those with lived experience of spending time in temporary accommodation.

“We welcome this route map as an important contribution to the discussion around reducing children in temporary accommodation.

“We are determined to make progress and want to see children and families in settled homes as soon as possible – our record £4.9 billion investment over the next four years will help deliver 36,000 affordable homes – enough for up to 24,000 children.

“We have asked local authorities to prioritise the acquisition of larger homes more suitable for families and to contact households with children in good quality temporary accommodation to see whether the property can be converted into their settled home.

“With rents rising and the cost of living crisis worsening, the UK Government’s freeze to local housing allowance is driving homelessness – I am extremely disappointed the Prime Minister chose not to use his Budget to lift people out of housing poverty by ending the freeze.”

1,032 adults were surveyed by YouGov online between September 29 and October 5.