Housing is a human right. Let’s tackle the housing crisis.

Housing. It’s a human right, right?  This leftie thinks so.

A basic human right – not that there is much basic about it. It’s a fundamental need that often dictates our life trajectory: employment, education, starting a family, access to community and support, health, and even length of life.

Everyone deserves a safe, secure, and affordable place to call home. But across Scotland, and especially here in the Highlands and Islands, too many people are struggling to find it. It’s a crisis, and it’s one I’m incredibly passionate about tackling.

This isn’t solely ideological for me – I’ve experienced homelessness myself. I know first-hand how devastating it is and how badly it affects you. That experience drives me to fight for change, every single day.

Why This Matters So Much – Especially Here

A stable home is the foundation for everything. Without it, how can anyone focus on education, hold down a job, or even just look after their health? The housing crisis fuels inequality and pushes people further into poverty. It’s just not right.

I’ve spoken out before on the cost of being homeless.  Temporary accommodation charges can be atrocious, and even if you’re working long, hard hours to pull yourself out, it can be an impossible cycle to break free from, especially if you’re struggling to access benefits, or it happened suddenly and you’re in the two-month waiting period before Universal Credit kicks in. [Read more: Emma Roddick; An unfair homeless charge in the Highlands may stop people from being able to access permanent accommodation]

Here in the Highlands and Islands, we’ve got our own set of challenges, and they’re particularly acute. The cost of housing here is often completely out of reach for locals, with the tourism industry pushing up costs with many willing to purchase houses they have no intention of ever visiting, let alone living in, for some fairly certain, steady, short-term rental income. That’s why work in this parliament on regulating the short-term let sector has been so positive and crucial. [Read more: Short-term let properties in Highland will need a licence under new rules which are welcomed by MSP Emma Roddick]

Rural depopulation, the sheer number of second homes, and a real lack of affordable housing are all making the problem worse, driving prices up and making it impossible for many to rent, let alone buy. We need young people to be able to find an affordable place to live if we want them to stay, work, and start families here – and we absolutely do want that. Our communities depend on it.

I’ve heard countless stories from folk who are being forced to leave the place they grew up, their families, job offers, because they simply can’t find anywhere to live. These stories, combined with my own lived experience, are what keep me going.  

What I’m Doing About It

Since being elected, I’ve been working flat out to address this crisis, both here in the Highlands and Islands and across Scotland. I’m constantly raising the issue in Parliament, pushing the Scottish Government to take real action.

Over my first couple of years in office, I went from sceptic to believer in rent controls.  We need to protect tenants from those indefensible rent hikes we’ve all heard at least one instance of and give them some much-needed security.

And we desperately need more affordable homes. I’m working closely with local housing associations and developers to try and make that happen, supporting innovative solutions, whether they’re from community groups or project managers, and pressing government to facilitate them. [Read my motion welcoming SSEN’s plans to build homes as part of a new strategy]

Rural housing has its unique problems, and I’m making sure those voices are heard, too. I spend a lot of time meeting with people, housing organisations, and local councils, trying to get a real understanding of what’s happening on the ground and working together to find solutions – and encouraging colleagues to engage with them, too. It’s important that we’re not just building houses, but the right houses, in the right places, responsive to local needs. [Read about when I welcomed the Housing Minister to Eigg]

I’ve also tried to do my bit to tackle the stigma which pushes people into worse situations when they do experience homelessness, or even the risk of it.  I believe that the Scottish Parliament is at its best when it’s diverse and when change is driven by people who really get why it’s needed.  So, using my lived experience of homelessness, I’ve shared bits of my own story to try and push things along, to show other decision-makers the urgency of tackling homelessness and the scale of the impact that even a short time without the security of a place to call home has on your whole life. Below is a short excerpt from a column I wrote on this for the Inverness Courier:

Lack of a safe and secure home affects every aspect of your life – it’s harder to register with a GP, apply for a job, or – the twisted irony not being lost on me – secure a tenancy. Home really is the foundation of being able to just live a happy life.

I want homelessness to be prevented. Even in cases where, for whatever reason, that hasn’t been possible, I don’t want it to be as damaging as it is now.

If you’ve been homeless at any point in your life, you’re more likely to die young. You’re more likely to be killed by drug or alcohol use. You’re more likely to be homeless again in future. I don’t believe these things need to be true, and I am so looking forward to scrutinising proposals for preventing homelessness and making tenancies more secure in the new Housing Bill this year. [Read the full column here: Emma Roddick: “if you’ve ever been homeless, you’re more likely to die young”]

One of the biggest issues we face in much of the region is the impact of short-term lets and second homes. They’re squeezing local people out of the market and making it impossible for them to find a place to live. They’re also a major factor in driving up prices; it’s a vicious cycle.

I’m pushing for stronger controls and regulations in this area. Recent measures, like allowing councils to charge extra council tax on second homes, are a step in the right direction, and show that movement is possible. But we must keep going.

Ms Roddick, from Alness, said: “We often see in tourist hotspots where over half the housing is unavailable for living in because it’s been bought up for letting to tourists or lying empty most of the year as a second home.

“We have got a big problem to answer in the Highlands and Islands of unsustainable tourism and how to get the level of visitors to a manageable one.” – Read more: Airbnb vs rental homes: Are short-term lets the cause of the ‘out of control’ housing problem in the Highlands?

The Housing (Scotland) Bill is a big opportunity, and I’m determined to make it count.

I’ve been badgering the Housing Minister (sorry, Paul) to make it as strong as possible and have already lodged some amendments focused on data collection. We absolutely cannot have a repeat of Rent Pressure Zones – councils need the tools and the information to make these policies work and feel confident in any move to take advantage of the new ability to control rent hikes.

Data is Crucial

Data is vital. We need hard evidence to make good policy, and the lack of it serves nobody on either side of the debate.

Landlords can be pretty litigious when it comes to new housing regulations, so we need to be able to back up our arguments with solid numbers.  Where good landlords exist who might be unintentionally and negatively impacted by regulations designed to limit bad faith landlords, they should be counted and recognised in official data, so that constant improvements can be made and specific situations taken into account.

Robust data collection will help us understand the real scale of the problem, as well as any nuances, and come up with solutions that actually work. We need to avoid any unintended consequences and make sure that what we do makes a real difference to people’s lives.

That’s why I’ve lodged those amendments, and I am going to do my best during Stage 2 of the bill to convince others to back them. [Read more: Bringing clarity to rent prices with better data – landlords and tenants in rare agreement]

The Fight Goes On

We’ve made some progress, sure, but there’s still a mountain to climb. I’m not going to stop fighting until everyone in Scotland has access to a safe, secure, and affordable home. This isn’t just a job for me, it’s personal – my own experience of homelessness has shown me just how important this is, and I’ll keep shouting about it until things change.

Get in Touch!

I really want to hear from you about your experiences with housing in the Highlands and Islands. Get in touch, share your stories, and let’s work together to make things better.

You can reach me here:

• Email: emma.roddick.msp@parliament.scot
• Website: www.emmaroddick.scot
• Facebook/Instagram/X/Bsky/Threads/TikTok/YouTube: @EmmaRoddickSNP