Lack of homes is West Coast's biggest issue, says MSP

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant told the Scottish Parliament on May 15: "The lack of housing is the single biggest issue that faces rural Scotland. 

"NHS Highland has recruited staff, only for them to withdraw their applications because they have not been able to find a place to live. That is especially an issue in Skye. Last weekend, the accident and emergency in Portree was closed during Skye Live and there were critical health incidents that had tragic consequences.

"Services cannot be delivered and depopulation is rife. The big problem relates to family homes. Homes that are suitable for year-round accommodation are being taken out of the local housing market.

"There is also a lack of social rented housing. Whatever the government says, it has not overcome the costs barrier that the lack of economies of scale causes. In a small village, one or two houses will be required. We all know about the homes in Barra that cost a quarter of a million pounds each to build.

"There is a housing emergency everywhere, but we are feeling it most in rural areas, which are always being left further behind. The Gaelic language is dying because of the dispersal of native Gaelic speakers. People want to remain in their communities, but they cannot afford to buy a house and there are no social rented houses available.

"The Scottish Government has now acknowledged there is a problem. It needs to spell out what it is going to do, because depopulation is accelerating and we need answers now."

Ariane Burgess, Green MSP for the Highlands and Islands, added: "Argyll and Bute Council is addressing the emergency.

"Despite that, a constituent told me recently they would become homeless as no rental properties were available for them in their home of Tiree.

"That constituent’s household includes people with key roles in social care, the local medical practice and the school. They also volunteer as coastguards and firefighters. The community in Tiree can ill afford to lose young islanders in that way but, in just a few weeks, those people will have no option but to move to the mainland. There are 10 applicants for every social let in Tiree and neighbouring Coll."

Highlands and Islands SNP MSP Emma Roddick, said: "My experience of not having a home is the reason I am in politics. I am proud to look at the SNP Government and see action that aligns with what I know is the right way to approach housing.

"I know the government is aware of what Rhoda Grant has described: the higher cost of building materials and contractors in rural or island areas, which could double the cost of building a house or make it impossible.

"I was recently in Eigg with the housing minister and we talked for two days about exactly that - the exorbitant cost of building a house in the isles compared with building a whole development in a city - but also about how critical one house can be for a community. It can be the difference between having a schoolteacher and not, having a healthcare worker and not and having a functioning community and not."

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Dunfermline SNP MSP Shirley-Anne Somerville, said: "It is very important we move past debating how we define a problem and move on to the solutions. That is why I am very happy that we do so today and that we all collectively declare there is a housing emergency. The important point, as members right across the chamber have come to, is what we then do about it."