Housing Emergency

As an amendment to motion S6M-14719 in the name of Anas Sarwar (Housing Emergency), insert at end "; notes with concern that recent statistics show that open homelessness cases were at their highest ever levels since 2003, and that more than 10,000 children are currently residing in temporary accommodation; further notes that housebuilding statistics show that, up to the end of June 2024, overall completions and new starts were down by 17% in comparison with the previous year; believes that there are a variety of steps that the Scottish Government can take to help tackle the housing emergency, which include encouraging the use of the rural housing burden mechanism, bringing thousands of empty homes back into use, and improving relationships with private landlords and the construction sector, in order to give them confidence to invest in Scotland’s housing sector, and calls on the Scottish Government to undertake these actions as soon as possible."