Fife has declared a housing emergency, and we’re not alone. Many other councils and the Scottish Government have also declared a state of emergency.
There aren’t enough homes for the people who need them. It’s a problem across the public and private sectors and there’s no quick fix to this situation. So we’re planning and acting now to mitigate the long-term impact.
There are lots of reasons we’ve got to this point. For example:
- We’ve been building new council homes since 2012 but the programme was interrupted by the pandemic.
- The huge increase in building material costs and difficulty acquiring land, combined with a reduction in the affordable housing budget we receive from the Scottish Government, means we’re facing a big gap in the number of affordable homes we’d planned to build in Fife.
- Since Covid and the cost of living crisis there’s been a lot more pressure on homelessness services and our temporary accommodation is full, with a lack of homes for people to move on to.
- The ever-increasing cost of buying or renting private property.
- Many private landlords have stopped letting homes because of the rising cost of maintaining them to appropriate standards.
- The construction industry was heavily hit by the Covid pandemic, so there are fewer developers to build the new housing needed nationwide.
Housing Emergency Action Plan (HEAP)
Since declaring a housing emergency, the council and our community planning partners - including organisations like Shelter, housing associations and private developers – have been working together to explore ways to address the issue.
We’re focussing on:
- maintaining the supply of affordable housing
- making the best use of existing properties
- enhancing housing access and preventing homelessness
You can read the draft HEAP in full here. We're exploring a range of possibilities in more depth to assess what will have the biggest impact in Fife, and a more detailed action plan will be presented to councillors in December 2024.
