Target of a home for everyone by 2050 is worth building on

Moves to tackle homelessness are welcome, says James Jopling.

THE current Scottish Government is no stranger to ambitious targets: witness its plans to reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, billed as the "most ambitious statutory target anywhere in the world".

The target to give everyone a home by 2012 is another ambitious and internationally acclaimed one – but this time, one ministers inherited from the previous administration.

It's easy for lofty ideas to be dropped when political masters shift. But Shelter Scotland has been heartened by the firm commitments made by senior politicians – including the First Minister – that the 2012 target is still a key commitment.

This 2012 target will see local councils abolish the current way that homes are rationed for homeless people. By 2012 all homeless people will have the same right to a home. This will end decades of inequality.

Last week Shelter was asked to tell MSPs what we believed was happening on the ground and what still needed to be done.

Councils have an "interim" deadline to be halfway towards meeting this target by 2009, compared to where they were in 2003-4. There are some councils in Scotland that have already achieved the interim target, others are moving in the right direction, while some are going backwards. In Edinburgh, the council is making good progress and, in the Lothians as a whole, local authorities are going in the right direction.

I strongly believe the 2012 target is still achievable. But as the clock ticks down, the challenge does not get smaller. So I believe a full stock-take of progress on Scotland's homelessness programme needs to take place right now, followed by a serious step-change in how we deliver it.

We need more affordable homes, not just for those people who become homeless, but also those in the wider housing market.

City of Edinburgh Council has been vocal in its calls for more money for affordable housing, while the other Lothian councils have all led the way in providing new council homes. We must also ensure private developers deliver affordable housing as part of bigger developments.

And it's just as important to prevent homeless happening in the first place. Stopping people from losing their homes because of repossession (a situation expected to only get worse), or because housing benefit is paid late has a huge part to play in stopping the upheaval of homelessness. Being without a home causes strain, distress and misery.

We can choose a Scotland without homelessness and be the first developed nation to do so. What greater incentive could there be than that?

Shelter Scotland will hold its annual conference on progress to 2012, Homelessness: four years and counting, on June 23. For more information, visit www.shelter.org.uk/2012

• James Jopling is head of campaigns at Shelter Scotland