CONDEMNED TO MISERY

Furious homeless campaigners warn £200m housing cuts will push thousands more Scots into insecurity

- MARK MCGIVERN

HOMELESS Scots have told how the ever-reducing supply of homes is condemning thousands to lives of misery.

The Scottish Government's announcement of £200million of cuts to housing spending led to universal condemnation.

Campaigners have been warning for months that more investment is needed to get home building moving.

But the budget announced by Scottish Finance Minister Shona Robison instead delivered more huge cuts that stunned housing campaigners - which will condemn thousands to years of insecurity and danger.

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: "The finance minister said the budget was a 'reflection of our shared values'.

"But cutting homelessness services and slashing funding for social homes in the face of a housing emergency are not my values and I don't believe they're the values of most people in Scotland.

"In January, Shona Robison, then responsible for housing, said that tackling homelessness was a national priority' for the Scottish Government - that is obviously no longer the case."

Watson had addressed Edinburgh and Glasgow councils in recent months and had made a personal appeal to Humza Yousaf to seize the crisis.

She added: "Ministers have chosen to allow the housing emergency to get worse; they've decided that rising homelessness is a price worth paying."