UofG Centre for Public Policy

STOP Lightning Talk by Alison Watson, Director Shelter Scotland 

There’s a lot to say on the theme of ‘stop’ when talking about housing.  

Stop failing the 10,180 children who woke up homeless this morning, stuck in temporary accommodation. Stop homelessness from rising. Stop seeing housing as a commodity. Stop breaking the law and failing to uphold people’s housing rights. Stop relying on the market to fix something that must be a common good. Stop scapegoating and blaming people because they need a roof over their heads.

We all need a home, but far too many of us across this country do not have that. What should be a human right is a luxury because we have designed a housing system that prioritises profit over people. 

I think what has become increasingly clear in recent years, as the housing emergency has deepened, is that the issues we face are systemic. The system has been designed to be this way, with intentionally short-term political choices leading to a system that simply doesn’t work. 

Statistics tell us that every single day, 41 children in Scotland are becoming homeless. A household loses its home every 15 minutes. Black People and People of Colour are 2.5 times as likely to lose their home as their White counterparts. 

This is the reality of the housing emergency facing Scotland in 2026. It is devastating lives across our communities - children growing up in temporary homes that damage their safety, their health, and their education. A broken system being weaponised by far-right and racist actors, seeking to divide our communities and blame those with the least power in our society.  

Parents are left feeling powerless and anxious, fearing they cannot provide the stability their children need. People are trapped in homes that will never meet their needs. Tens of thousands are waiting for the social housing that could transform their lives.  

We need to stop that harm from being the new normal. How can a child fulfil their potential, get the education they deserve, stay healthy and happy, if they are living in a temporary home that is cold, damp, mouldy, miles away from school, overcrowded, scary? This is the real life, lifelong damage that is happening to thousands of children across Scotland right now. 

For too many other people across Scotland, they are unable to access housing rights – legal duties to provide temporary accommodation and for that temporary accommodation to be suitable to the household ignored. Laws broken on a daily basis because the whole system is failing. Councils lacking the resources they need to uphold rights, and people experiencing homelessness suffering the devastating consequences. 

If we’re talking about the theme of Stop, that’s where we need to begin. Stop breaking the law. Stop underfunding local services. Stop acting like this is inevitable. Stop the doom and gloom and assumptions that homelessness is an insurmountable challenge. Our broken and biased housing system can and must be fixed.  

And the money is there to fix it – we’re just choosing to spend it on treating the symptoms rather than the causes. Councils are spending hundreds of millions of pounds every year providing emergency temporary accommodation, the government is spending billions across the UK on housing benefits to cover sky-high rents which people are paying because there isn’t enough affordable housing. We have built a system that is costing a fortune all while failing people every single day. To reform our homelessness services, this is the key thing that has to change – we cannot continue spending public money in a way that doesn’t achieve our long-term aims and ambitions. 

If we are to Stop Breaking the Law, we need to invest in prevention and to stop homelessness from happening in the first place. That means investing in local services, providing that person-centred support, and also investing in the social homes we need. The recent research we commissioned with Chartered Institute of Housing and Scottish Federation of Housing Associations outlines what is needed – at least 15,693 social homes every year of the next parliament, if parties want to tackle homelessness.  

So, to stop breaking the law, the biggest thing any government can do is to start building the social homes we desperately need. Delivery up to now has been too slow, too little and too late. Last week’s Scottish Budget hasn’t got us to the level we need, but there is still time to ensure we are investing next year and in the years to come. 

If we take radical action now, delivering the homes we need at the scale we need, we can stop homelessness rising. We can stop children from growing up in temporary homes that damage their health. We can stop the misery of homelessness – for good.  

Author and about this blog 

STOP Lightning Talk by Alison Watson, Director Shelter Scotland  

This is a written copy of a talk that was delivered at the University of Glasgow Centre for Public Policy’s event Stop/Start: Making Public Service Reform Stick in Scotland, on Monday 19 January 2026. 

It was part of a set of STOP talks, quick fire provocations from leaders in this space, challenging attendees to think about what’s not working and should be stopped. 

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First published: 11 February 2026