During First Minister’s Questions, Michael Marra MSP put the findings of the Homelessness Monitor: Scotland 2026, published yesterday by Crisis Scotland and Heriot-Watt University, to John Swinney. He noted that it is now more than two years since the Scottish Parliament voted to declare a national housing emergency, and called for cross party talks on getting Scotland’s child poverty commitments back on track.

The First Minister welcomed the report, said he recognised the scale of the challenge, and publicly invited parties to discussions linking action on child poverty to decisions in the budget.

The Monitor finds that a comprehensive package of ten policy levers could cut core homelessness in Scotland by 47% by 2028, from 22,800 households to around 12,150. It also warns that without a more ambitious agenda, homelessness will remain at its current level for the next 15 years. More than 10,000 children were living in temporary accommodation in March 2025, up 50% in six years.

Around three quarters of the potential reduction could be delivered using powers already held in Scotland by local authorities, housing associations, local partners and the Scottish Government. The two most powerful levers, allocating more social homes to people in the worst forms of homelessness and fully implementing the new homelessness prevention duties, sit firmly within devolved control.

Maeve McGoldrick, head of policy and communications at Crisis Scotland, said: “It is genuinely welcome that on the day of publication, the findings of the Homelessness Monitor were put directly to the First Minister, and that he recognised the scale of the challenge. That recognition now needs to become a plan, and the budget is where that plan begins.

“The First Minister is right that decisions at Westminster matter. Restoring Local Housing Allowance would make a real difference, and our research shows that.

“But it also shows that most of what it would take to cut the worst forms of homelessness by nearly half within this parliament is already in Scotland’s hands. Fully funding the new Ask and Act prevention duties in the coming budget is the single clearest signal the Government could send that it means to use those powers.

“We welcome the willingness on all sides to sit down together. If cross party talks on child poverty go ahead, homelessness has to be at the heart of them. More than 10,000 children growing up in temporary accommodation is not a separate issue from child poverty. It is one of its sharpest edges.”

Crisis Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to fully fund the implementation of the homelessness prevention Ask and Act duties in the upcoming budget.