Creating homes for everyone
That’s me in the photo: barefoot in the lane, playing with my Uncle Sid outside our backyard. I grew up on council estates – first a flat, then a house (with my first indoor loo!) – and I know just how much having a secure roof over your head changes everything.
Everyone deserves the right to a home they can afford and feel safe in. But here in Fife North East, finding one is getting harder and harder.
Private rents keep rising, social housing is in desperately short supply and more and more young people are forced to leave the area because they can’t afford to live here.
Take St Andrews, for example, as I write, the average rent for a two-bed home is a hefty £1,571 a month. That’s pushing out young workers, families – even well-aid university staff.
Meanwhile, Fife Council’s social housing waiting list has hit almost 14,000 applicants, while hundreds of families in Fife North East are stuck in temporary accommodation, unable to move forward.
The SNP declared a housing emergency in 2024, but it took them over a year to come up with yet another plan.
Empty promises and delays won’t fix this crisis. We need action.
I know what it means to worry about where you’ll live. My family relied on social housing when times were tough. I dread to think how bad life would have been if we hadn’t had a home to call our own.
It’s why I’m determined to:
- Build more social housing where it’s needed most – especially in our rural and coastal communities.
- Strengthen protections for renters, improving the rights of tenants to make their house a proper home.
- Support first-time buyers so young people in North East Fife can stay, build their futures and put down roots.
Everyone deserves a safe, secure, affordable place to call home. That’s not too much to ask — and it’s what I’ll push for, so people in Fife North East can stay, grow and put down roots.
