Delivering on our most ambitious policy asks at the Scottish Parliament elections

Crisis entered the Scottish Parliament election campaign with our most ambitious policy asks, ever. We called on political parties to not just commit to ending homelessness but to do so by the year 2040, and to put that commitment into legislation. 

This was a very big ask – but we did it. 

Two of the main parties contesting this May’s elections have committed to ending homelessness in Scotland by 2040 with one of them also adding the statutory commitment. This is a phenomenal achievement for our organisation that will form the basis of our work for the foreseeable future, but it is also a step-change in the politics of ending homelessness that hasn’t been seen anywhere in the UK before. 

Two parties – both of whom have served in the Scottish Government since the Scottish Parliament was reformed in 1999 – supporting our campaign is an enormous step towards us realising our goal of ending all forms of homelessness in Scotland, for good.  

This does, of course, mean that some parties have not made this commitment in writing…yet. However, the leaders of every party have all supported our cause in interviews we undertook with them in our Edinburgh Skylight at the very beginning of the election campaign: Scotland’s political party leaders unite behind goal to end homelessness | Crisis UK. 

Our job of convincing the next Government to work towards the 2040 target has been made slightly easier knowing that at least two of the parties in the next parliament support our cause in its entirety. Our job now is to work with all MSPs in the next parliamentary term – and whoever forms the next Scottish Government – to see delivery on all of our asks. Those are working towards ending homelessness by 2040; delivering the right number, of the right type of homes, in the right places; improving the support available to people in housing need and prioritising prevention, and delivering strategic, long-term funding assigned to clear outcomes. This is because it is one thing to commit to something in a manifesto – it is another to deliver on it. And we will work over the next five years, and beyond, to make sure the next parliament delivers the change we need to see to reduce, and ultimately end, homelessness in Scotland.