One In Three Scots Fear Losing Their Home In Coming Years
MORE than one in three Scots are worried they could lose their home within the next few years, according to new polling that highlights mounting anxiety over Scotland’s housing and homelessness emergency, reports deadlinenews.
The research found 35% of people across Scotland are concerned about losing their home because of pressures including the cost of living, a lack of affordable housing, high rents and rising mortgage costs. Concern is highest among 18 to 24-year-olds, where almost half (49%) share that fear. Concern about housing insecurity remains elevated well beyond the youngest age groups, with 45% of 25 to 34-year-olds worried about losing their home in the coming years, followed by 42% of 35 to 54-year-olds.
The issue is also being felt across Scotland’s cities and regions, with concern highest in Glasgow at 41%, followed by Inverness at 37%. In Aberdeen and Dundee 32% of Scots are worried about losing their home in the next few years and 31% of people in Edinburgh. The findings came in polling commissioned for the Everyone Home collective, an expert group of more than 40 expert organisations focused on housing and homelessness in Scotland.
Homeless Network Scotland, who convene the collective, said the findings show housing justice must be a central concern for the new administration, with growing public sentiment reflecting the scale of the country’s housing emergency. Margaret-Ann Brünjes, chief executive at Homeless Network Scotland, said: “These figures confirm that housing insecurity is no longer a fringe issue, it is a weight on the minds of people across Scotland. Younger generations, in particular, feel increasingly locked out of the stability they need to build their lives. Voters are sending an unmistakable message: homelessness and housing must be treated as urgent national priorities. While these issues are appearing in party manifestos, the level of ambition shown so far falls short of the radical action this emergency demands.”
Around 250,000 people are currently on housing waiting lists across Scotland, while more than 17,000 households, including around 10,000 children, are living in temporary accommodation according to Everyone Home, a coalition that unites third and academic sector expertise with lived experience knowledge of the issue. Everyone Home’s Housing Justice manifesto called for a significant increase in social and affordable house-building to reverse those trends. Research commissioned by The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Shelter Scotland and the Chartered Institute for Housing found Scotland must deliver 15,693 new social and affordable homes every year to reduce homelessness. The collective warned that failure to act is costing the public heavily, with some local authorities now unable to meet their statutory duties, and forced to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on unsafe and unsuitable temporary accommodation – with a knock-on impact on wider council spending.
Brünjes said: “Homelessness is the harshest consequence of Scotland’s housing emergency. Our broken system is failing far too many people and causing untold harm. Housing justice means fixing that system so everyone has access to a safe, secure and affordable home. The human and financial cost of inaction is rising every year, and it is taxpayers who are footing the bill for a system that is being forced to rely on temporary fixes instead of long-term solutions. We are spending public money managing crisis rather than preventing it. That is why Scotland needs not only more homes, but better joined-up support across housing, health, justice and social care to stop people falling through the cracks.”
The collective is also calling for full and effective implementation of new homelessness prevention measures and proper resourcing for frontline public services to identify housing risks earlier and allow intervention before crisis point. The expert coalition said prevention must become a central pillar of housing policy if Scotland is to reduce pressure on councils, the NHS and wider public services. Brünjes added: “We know what works. Prevention, early intervention and joined-up services can stop homelessness before it starts – but only if they are properly funded and delivered. This election is a major opportunity for all parties to show they understand the scale of the housing emergency and are prepared to meet it with the ambition required.”
The polling comes as housing and homelessness campaigners urge political parties to commit to stronger action ahead of the 2026 Scottish Parliament election, with calls for housing justice to sit at the heart of the next parliamentary term.
