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SNP-led Glasgow council accused the Nationalist Government of making their housing emergency worse over swingeing cuts . Letters from the local council reveal “frustration” with the SNP Government after the affordable housing budget was chopped . Town hall chiefs also warned they could be forced to make changes to the quality of new houses . Scottish Labour MP Joani Reid said: “These damning letters show what Glasgow SNP councillors know but won’t admit in public - Scotland’s housing crisis is a disaster of their own government’s making." Senior SNP council figures have been engaged in a bitter war of words with Labour over Glasgow’s mounting housing problems. Nationalists claim the Home Office has created a refugee homelessness crisis, while Labour have accused the SNP Government of not building enough homes. But communications obtained by the Record show the council criticised the SNP Government last year after Humza Yousaf pushed through a £200m housing cut when he was First Minister. In a letter to the then Government minister Paul McLennan, SNP council homelessness chief Allan Casey complained they had only received details of their housing cut at the last minute. He wrote: “We are also disappointed that the 25% cut to the full programme was allocated proportionately to each Council rather than a targeted approach being taken given the challenges that Glasgow continues to face; not least in the face of the decisions of the Home Office and the impact that is having on both the numbers of people seeking asylum in Glasgow, and an increase in the number of people who have no recourse to public funds.” Casey claimed the city’s housing investment plan had several “significant” projects under threat because of the cuts. He wrote: “We are also having to look at other ways we can provide a programme at scale including delivering over a longer time, and possibly making changes to the quality of design. Casey pleaded for more money: “Our team could spend tens of millions of pounds to respond to the housing emergency here in Glasgow and reduce the numbers of people living in temporary accommodation.” In another letter from weeks earlier, Casey wrote that the “lack of movement” from the SNP Government on greater flexibility for housing funding was “an area of frustration for us”. He wrote: “ On several occasions you have said that you will consider how the Affordable Housing Supply Programme could be delivered more flexibly and we remain disappointed that our ideas and suggestions have not progressed.” The letters were released under freedom of information laws. Reid said: “Privately, SNP councillors despair at their government’s cuts, a lack of flexibility and the failure to prioritise need. Publicly, they attack anyone who says the same as “far right”. It is cynical, cowardly and beneath contempt. “The truth is the SNP’s virtue-signalling has made Scotland’s housing crisis far worse - chasing praise for being a sanctuary for asylum seekers and refugees without any plan for housing or local services. “It’s a pattern of behaviour: strike a pose, take the applause, then leave others to pick up the pieces. “The SNP can’t keep blaming others: the failure lies squarely with them, and it deepens every day they remain in power. John Swinney later reversed Yousaf’s cuts and his new housing minister Mairi McAllan recently announced £4.9bn to tackle the emergency across Scotland. Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan said: “We have a strong track record in affordable housing, having delivered more than 140,000 affordable homes — over 100,000 of which are for social rent. This is 47% more per head of population than in England and 73% more than in Wales as of March 2024. “Last month we published the Housing Emergency Action Plan, increasing the affordable housing budget to £808 million this year. “This included increasing our targeted acquisitions funding to £80 million. This uplifted budget increases the funding available for the Glasgow City Council area in 2025-26 by over £12 million from £115.6 million to £127.8 million and is £37 million more than was available for Glasgow in 2024-25.” To sign up to the Daily R ecord Politics newsletter, click here
