Lillian Jones

I thank the hon. Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman) and my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker) for securing this important debate. I am angry and frankly embarrassed that I am here today to discuss the deepening homelessness crisis in Scotland, which is inseparable from the scandal of rising child poverty. After nearly two decades in power, the SNP has presided over that crisis; in fact, the Scottish Government fuelled it by cutting the affordable homes budget by £200 million, or 26%, despite mounting political pressure to declare a national housing emergency, which they finally did. The fact that the SNP failed to respond to that growing crisis over years with either urgency or even compassion demonstrates its lack of leadership; quite simply, it was abandonment. After 20 years of the SNP, Scotland has nothing to show, only a national disgrace: rising homelessness, rising child poverty and a Government who have lost their way. As of March 2025, over 34,000 households in Scotland were assessed as homeless or at risk of being homeless— the highest number in over a decade. Temporary accommodation figures also hit a record high, with over 17,000 households—a 6% rise—affected. That is a scandal. Behind those numbers are children. Over 10,100 children were living in temporary accommodation, with no home to call their own—young lives in limbo, with no stability, no security and no dignity. A further shocking fact is that 242 people died in 2023 while homeless, half of them under the age of 45. Some of those deaths were linked to drugs misuse—another crisis the Scottish Government have failed to address. These are not just policy failures; they are moral failures. The SNP has lost sight of why it was elected. It has no solutions and no answers. Frankly, Scotland demands better from its Government: bold, radical policy, investment, leadership to end the scourge of homelessness, and temporary accommodation to restore stability, security and dignity for every homeless child and adult.