Scotland is in the grip of a housing polycrisis: rates of homeownership have fallen; rents in the private sector continue to increase; and rates of both homelessness and households living in temporary accommodation have reached record highs across the country.
A report by Professor Duncan Maclennan and researcher Jocelyne Fleming, commissioned by the David Hume Institute, concludes these challenges are damaging the economy, fuelling inequality, harming well-being and undermining public trust in politics at both Holyrood and Westminster.
The study, Prosperity Begins at Home: Disruptions to Improve Scotland’s Housing System, calls for bold, sweeping policy reforms. It argues that housing has been wrongly treated as a narrow social issue, and advocates for an urgent shift in understanding, recognising that housing is critical economic infrastructure shaping jobs, wealth, climate progress, and wellbeing.
Read the summary and main report here. (external link: the David Hume Institute)
