Four MSPs have called on the Scottish Government to take action on housing and homelessness across Fife to stop the kingdom from declaring a housing emergency.

Roz McCall, Alexander Stewart, Murdo Fraser, and Liz Smith’s call comes after a letter to the First Minister from Councillor David Ross, the Labour leader of Fife Council, in which he outlined the pressures on housing and homelessness in the area.

Cllr David Ross called for urgent support from the Scottish Government and stated that a failure to do so would lead to the council declaring a housing emergency.

As previously reported in the Press, Fife Council is on the brink of declaring a housing emergency due to a proposed 26 per cent cut in Scottish Government funding for affordable homes.

The four Scottish Conservative MSPs have now also written to the First Minister supporting these calls.

They said: “This damning letter to the First Minister highlights the dire state of housing in Fife as more and more people become trapped in temporary accommodation.

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“The SNP have refused to prioritise housing in Fife for over a decade and failed to meet their own housebuilding and affordable home targets again and again.”

There are around 1,900 households in Fife that are awaiting tenancy and are classed as homeless.

The MSPs added: “We need the Scottish Government to wake up and realise that there is a major problem here and give Fife Council the support it needs before it is faced with yet another council declaring a housing emergency.

“The SNP have starved Fife Council of essential funding to tackle the spiralling problems and we call on the First Minister to urgently respond.”

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In response, Paul McLennan, housing minister, commented: “The Scottish Government has led the UK in housing by delivering more than 126,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 89,000 of which were for social rent, including almost 24,000 council homes.

“We will invest £556 million in affordable housing in 2024-25, the majority of which will be for social rent. The allocation for affordable housing to the Fife Council area since 2021 has been £122 million.

“I recently met with Fife Council’s Housing Convener to discuss how we can work together to continue to deliver affordable housing in the area.

“We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and to support that we will bring forward the review scheduled for 2026-27 to 2024, which will concentrate on deliverability. We are working with the financial community in Scotland, and elsewhere, to boost private sector investment and help deliver more homes.”