The decision was taken at a meeting of Dundee City Council’s housing committee on Monday, following weeks of mounting pressure from charities and community groups.

Shelter Scotland had already described the situation as “chronic”, pointing to rising homelessness, a shortage of social homes and increasing reliance on temporary accommodation.

Recent figures show homelessness applications in Dundee have risen by 6%, despite a national decrease of 3%. The number of households in temporary accommodation has also climbed 13% year on year. Fifteen frontline services wrote to councillors last week, urging them to declare a local housing emergency, joining 13 other Scottish councils that have already done so. A national emergency was declared by the Scottish Government in May 2024.

The SNP administration responded by tabling a motion to formally recognise the emergency and commit to working with the Scottish Government to align local efforts with the national action plan. Councillors approved the motion by 15 votes to 12.

Housing convenor Kevin Cordell said the scale of demand meant the council needed “a new collaborative and multi‑agency approach”, adding that officers would now prepare an emergency action plan to identify accelerated or enhanced measures.

Council leader Mark Flynn used the meeting to criticise the long‑standing right‑to‑buy policy introduced by Westminster governments, arguing it had “decimated” Dundee’s council housing stock over several decades.

“We went from around 40,000 homes down to where we are now at around 12,500 to 13,000,” he said, insisting the legacy of the policy continued to shape the city’s housing pressures.

Opposition councillors had proposed endorsing the Dundee Housing Emergency Action Plan produced by a coalition led by Shelter Scotland, but the administration argued that adopting a single external plan risked excluding other organisations from the process.

Coalition welcomes declaration

Shelter Scotland and the wider Dundee Housing Emergency Coalition — now representing more than 30 organisations — welcomed the council’s decision, describing it as a vital first step.

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said the declaration sent a “loud and clear” message to both Westminster and Holyrood that long‑term investment in social housing and changes to housing benefit were essential.

“Finally, Dundee voices are being heard,” she added. “By voting to declare a housing emergency, Dundee City Council is sending Westminster and Holyrood a message loud and clear – end Dundee’s housing emergency now.

“Without long-term investment in social housing, new funding for council services from Holyrood, and changes to housing benefit from Westminster, Dundee’s housing emergency will only continue to get worse. Over 30 frontline organisations were involved in producing a housing emergency action plan that sets out how we can tackle the housing emergency.  

“Step one in that plan was for Dundee City Councillors to declare a housing emergency and commit to work alongside the coalition. Today they did that. The city’s councillors have stepped up to lead that fight for change. This is just the start of the journey.  

“While the motion does not include a commitment to a local action plan, we welcome the council’s intention to work with the community and look forward to hearing more detail about how this will work. We extend the invitation to the council leadership to the next meeting of the Coalition to discuss how the community can play its part in what happens next. 

“We look forward to working alongside the council to end the scourge of homelessness and fix the broken and biased housing system across Dundee.”

Dundee Civic Trust chairperson, Donald Gordon, said: “Dundee Civic Trust are delighted that Councillors have taken the vital step of declaring a housing emergency.  

“We welcome the council’s intention to work with all those with a shared interest in ending it, and the Dundee Housing Emergency Coalition, as a whole, stands ready to work collaboratively to deliver the urgent and sustained action that is now required.”

Transform Community Development chief executive, Bryan Smith, said: “Yesterday’s decision to declare a housing emergency in Dundee is a welcomed step toward confronting the scale of the crisis facing our city.

“The Housing Emergency Action Plan, developed collectively by more than thirty organisations through the Dundee Housing Emergency Coalition, shows that Dundee is not short of solutions and yesterday’s commitment signals that the Council recognises both the urgency and the opportunity to act.

“We hope that declaration is not symbolic. It is a promise to the people of Dundee that their voices, experiences, and struggles have been heard. Now, we all begin the work of delivering the investment, collaboration, and systemic change needed to ensure everyone in our city has a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.”