RESPONDING to the Scottish Budget, Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, housing and homelessness charity, said:
“The ‘smoke and mirrors’ will not blind us to the fact that there is nothing new in the Scottish Budget for homes, and nothing new for construction jobs.
“The £31 million announced yesterday by the Scottish Government is not new money (2). It is part of money already allocated to the housing programme and flows from UK Government Barnett Consequentials announced last June.
“Housing was well placed to help Scotland’s economy accelerate out of a very fragile recovery, help create jobs, move people out of expensive temporary accommodation and slash massive waiting lists (3) (4).
“Today, Alex Salmond and John Swinney missed that opportunity and failed those in housing need and in job queues.”
He added: “We remain committed to fighting for housing to be placed among top spending priorities for Scotland and will focus on persuading politicians ahead of next year’s budget that housing is the cornerstone of our society and communities.”
Notes to editors
- The Affordable Housing Investment Programme (AHIP) is falling by £204 million from this year to next. For a full briefing, see here.
- The £31 million comes from the June 2009 Barnett Consequentials, which totalled £54 million. Shelter Scotland’s response regarding £31 million in June 2009 can be seen here. The remaining £23 is currently ‘owed’ to housing programmes.
- Currently, there are over 40,000 households homeless in Scotland, including around 24,000 children (Scottish Government figures for 2008-09), almost 200,000 households on council house waiting lists (Scottish Government figures, as at 31 March 2009).
- The Scottish Building Federation’s Scottish Construction Monitor estimates that nearly 28,500 construction jobs have been lost since the start of the recession.
MEDIA RELEASE posted by Shelter Scotland. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. To find more, email here.
Contact: Christina Cran, Nicola Baxter
Phone: 0844 515 2442
Website: http://www.shelter.org.uk
