10,000 EMPTY COUNCIL HOUSES ONE FOR EVERY HOMELESS KID IN THE COUNTRY

THOUSANDS of council houses are lying empty while the number of homeless kids is soaring.

- PAUL HUTCHEON

Nearly 10,000 homes are unoccupied across Scotland as 9860 children are forced to live in temporary accommodation.

The Scottish Government is now facing calls to scrap the £200million cut to the housing budget to fix up empty homes.

Labour MSP Mark Griffin said: "We need a real plan to ramp up housebuilding and make sure we are making good use of existing homes."

SCOTLAND has nearly 10,000 empty council houses - enough to end the child homelessness epidemic - according to shocking new figures.

The Daily Record today exposes the scandal of council houses lying empty after asking Scotland's local authorities how many "void", or unoccupied, homes they own.

Thirty councils provided a response and 9766 voids were identified. Now housing campaigners say bringing these homes back into use would go a long way to housing the 9860 children living in temporary homes in Scotland.

And there were calls for the Scottish Government to scrap its controversial £200million cut to the housing budget to fix-up the empty homes.

Labour MSP Mark Griffin said: "Scotland is in the grips of a housing emergency and thousands of children are stuck in temporary accommodation but the SNP-Green government is in denial.

"We need a real plan to both ramp up housebuilding and make sure that we are making good use of existing homes across Scotland but the SNP-Green government has gutted council budgets and brought forward a housing bill that won't give us a single extra home.