One million 'struggle with costs'

Jan 17 2013

More than a million people are "living on a knife edge" because of stress over housing costs, campaigners at Shelter Scotland have claimed.

A survey for the housing and homelessness charity found that 28% of people in Scotland, the equivalent of 1,177,000 adults, said paying their mortgage or rent is causing stress or depression in their family.

The same proportion say that worries over paying for their home made them lose sleep, compared with 25% of people in England and 26% in Wales.

Struggling to pay the rent or mortgage is also damaging relationships, with 27% of people in Scotland, the equivalent of 1,133,000 adults, saying that worries about housing costs are causing arguments with their partner or other family members, the charity's research also shows

Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown said: "These findings reveal the heartbreaking reality of over a million families and individuals living on a knife edge, worrying about paying their rent or mortgage.

"Behind closed doors they face stress, sleepless nights and strained relationships as they desperately struggle to afford their housing bills. With little or no chance of things getting better any time soon, our worry is that even more families will face the human tragedy of homelessness this year."

Anyone facing housing problems should get help sooner rather than later, he said.

Mr Brown said: "To restore its housing safety net Scotland needs to build more affordable homes and reverse the welfare cuts to ensure that thousands of families and individuals who fall on hard times are not left out in the cold. It's time to end Scotland's housing crisis for good."

Earlier this month Shelter Scotland revealed that 21% of people face a constant struggle to meet mortgage or rent payments.

The charity found that 3% of people with a rent or mortgage had to use a payday loan to cover it in the past year, while 9% had to use an unauthorised overdraft.