FIFE Council's decision to declare a housing emergency has been described as "political showboating" by the SNP.

Councillor Judy Hamilton said the move was necessary due to the "relentless" pressure on services and the Scottish Government's 26 per cent cut to the affordable housing budget.

The housing spokesperson for the Labour administration, her motion was approved by 36 votes to 31 despite claims it will achieve nothing other than "grab a few headlines".

At the full council meeting Cllr Hamilton said: "I hoped I would never have to bring this motion because this is not a place any of us want to be in."

Dunfermline Press: Fife Council's housing spokesperson, Labour councillor Judy Hamilton. Fife Council's housing spokesperson, Labour councillor Judy Hamilton. (Image: Fife Council)

In January she had warned that Fife was on the brink of a housing emergency and, since then, a proposed 26 per cent funding cut has been confirmed and there's seemingly no likelihood of any more money from the UK or Scottish government.

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Cllr Hamilton said this could add up to a "devastating" £9 million drop in funding for Fife, threatening their aim of building 1,250 council homes over the next five years, and left them with no option but to declare an emergency.

Councils in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Argyll & Bute have already taken this step.

Head of housing, John Mills, has been asked to bring forward an emergency action plan by June.

It's a tall order as new homeless applications are expected to hit 2,700 in 2023-24, a seven per cent increase from the previous year, while there are 1,105 households in temporary accommodation in Fife, including 370 children.

Backing the motion, Lib Dem councillor James Calder said: "Without significant support from the Scottish Government affordable housing budget we cannot deliver what we need in terms of high quality social housing.

"Instead they're cutting the budget by around £200m. I'm absolutely furious we've reached this point."

However the leader of the opposition, Cllr David Alexander said rampant inflation, spiralling prices - the cost of building a two-bed council home rose from £125,000 in 2017 to £230,000 in 2024 - as well as skills shortages and supply chain problems due to Brexit had led to the problems.

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He said delays in the council's housebuilding programme, the administration's "ideological impediment" to property acquisitions and "surge" in cases of homes suffering from damp and mould had played its part too.

Dunfermline Press: Leader of the opposition, SNP councillor David Alexander. Leader of the opposition, SNP councillor David Alexander. (Image: Fife Council)

Cllr Alexander went on: "The extreme pressures on housing and homelessness are due to insufficient affordable homes being built. That's it.

"If we thought that declaring a housing emergency now would bring in substantial resources to make a difference we would support it but slogans don't do that."

He said Holyrood had provided £100m over the last 10 years for affordable homes in Fife but the Tories at Westminster had "murdered" the Scottish Government's capital budget.

Cllr Alexander said there was still a "substantial" budget of £556m for affordable housing across Scotland in 2024-25 - Fife's share is yet to be divulged - and called for a report on how the council and housing associations can maximise the resources available.

The SNP called for the number of buy-backs of former council homes to be accelerated, Cllr Lesley Backhouse said there's a £40,000 subsidy - "free money" - for each one from the Scottish Government and the council should have been purchasing 200 a year.

Cllr John Beare said they could have made the declaration "672 days ago", when the SNP first proposed an emergency working group. Council leader David Ross said he recognised there were "huge pressures" on housing services and they had been taking action to meet each challenge.

But he said the funding cut to the affordable housing programme was the tipping point and now was the "right time" to declare a housing emergency.

Cllr Ross went on: "Just to clear this up, we are not opposed to buy backs in the right place. It is a measure that helps but it is not a silver bullet.

"It does not create one single house more."

And he added that while the government had put in £100m over the last decade, the council had put in "five times that amount" to build 7,400 homes.