The SNP have created a housing nightmare

The SNP government can’t see a house fire without wanting to throw petrol on it. Scotland’s housing crisis is only too apparent to anyone looking for accommodation right now. Homelessness is rising rapidly with evictions doubling in a year; a quarter of a million Scots are on social housing waiting lists; and rents are going through the roof. Yet, the SNP Government and its Green partners seem determined to make matters worse by pursuing an ideological assault on private landlords which is forcing them out of the market. 

House prices have long been unaffordable in Scotland, having tripled since 2000. But now even the rental market is broken at every level. Long term rents are rising by over 10 per cent a year and now stand at £1,100 a month on average – while they are £1,400 in cities like Edinburgh. This is despite the ‘emergency’ 3 per cent cap placed on private sector rents by the Scottish government last year.