FIFE Council's Labour group has been accused of failing to prioritise buying back former council houses as it attempts to tackle homelessness problems.

A spat while the local authority's Homelessness Reduction Plan was discussed by the council's cabinet committee saw Council leader David Ross compared to Margaret Thatcher.

Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay councillor David Barratt refused to withdraw the comment on the former Conservative Prime Minister, stating that Labour was "failing to prioritise" buying back former council homes as the most immediate means of securing more council homes.

“I believe Margaret Thatcher argued selling off our council housing didn’t change the overall housing stock, a line repeated by Cllr Ross," he said.

"The same arguments used by the Tory architects of the disastrous Right to Buy policy are being used by the Labour leadership, seeming too reluctant to reverse that policy.”

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At last Thursday's meeting, councillors were told that the region continues to regularly breach its statutory duties to provide temporary accommodation for homelessness.

In the face of these unprecedented pressures, the cabinet signed off on plans for council officers to present and discuss the report with the Scottish Housing Minister to bid for additional financial and non-financial resources.

John Mills, head of the council’s housing service , explained: “Fife is currently managing homelessness services in the context of unprecedented pressures on temporary accommodation which stem from the long-term effects of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis.

“We’re working to maximise housing supply and continuing to deliver the Affordable Housing Programme but we are calling on the Scottish Government for more investment to meet the needs of those presenting as homeless and in housing need more generally.”

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Council Leader David Ross said a lot of work has been going on to address the homeless pressures and they were beginning to see the results of this.

"Homeless applications for the first six months of this year are down compared to last year and the turnover of council houses is beginning to pick up again with an estimated 2,200 likely to be available compared with only 1,800 last year," he said.

“So, this is the right time to set out our long term plans to reduce homelessness across Fife. We want our share of the Scottish Government funding allocated to tackling homelessness but regardless of this we are determined to make a significant impact on homelessness over the next three years and that’s why we have asked for our own long-term strategy and action plan.

“Our long-term programme of building new affordable housing is the envy of many other council’s across Scotland. Together with our Fife Housing Association Alliance partners, we have built 7,400 new affordable houses since 2012, making this one of the biggest programmes in Scotland and the UK. And we have plans to build over 3,000 more affordable homes over the next five years.

“It’s disappointing that the SNP can only resort to half-truths and personal insults and remain fixated on buying older properties on the open market rather than building new, better quality new housing.

"The council is already buying existing properties where it makes sense to do this and 113 were purchased last year. But this cannot be the only way of increasing the availability of housing.

“Our long-term strategy and action plan for reducing homelessness and meeting the other wider housing needs like overcrowding and social/medical needs will focus on a range of actions."

The Cabinet agreed to approve the two year homelessness reduction plan, and agreed that a longer term strategy plan should be brought to committee in the new year.

It will focus on bringing empty properties back into occupation; reducing void turnaround times; eliminating the use of hotel and bed and breakfast accommodation; and reprovisioning and modernising homeless hostel accommodation.

The plan will also continue to emphasise the council’s building programme, and a private sector let scheme to provide the council with access to private rented accommodation for allocations.

SNP committee members pushed an amendment to place a strong emphasis on the council’s property buy back scheme to get people into homes quickly, but it was defeated 13-9 in a vote.

The amendment also asked the administration to organise a homelessness reduction workshop for all councillors and to write to Westminster to request help as well.

The administration claimed it had no problem with those aspects of the amendment, but did not wish to formally accept them as part of the motion.