Shelter Scotland to mark 50 years of campaigning against bad housing and homelessness

Shelter Scotland is planning a year-long series of events to mark its 50th anniversary, despite stressing that the landmark is no cause for celebration.

The charity said notwithstanding great leaps forward in homelessness legislation and better-quality housing in Scotland since 1968, many of the factors that motivated Shelter Scotland’s founders to take action still exist today and need to be tackled head-on.

Director Graeme Brown said: “From our early days when we woke the nation and its politicians up to the shocking levels of poverty and deprivation people were enduring – all too vividly depicted through their appalling housing conditions – we hoped that a sense of national shame and the willingness to bring about lasting change would mean a quick end to bad housing and homelessness.

“We hoped that by now, there would be a decent home for everyone in Scotland.

“While good progress has been made, unfortunately, bad housing and homelessness still blights the lives of many thousands of people in Scotland – robbing them of their health, security and a fair chance in life. 

“That’s why we are not celebrating our 50th – we shouldn’t really exist and there’s still so much more needs doing.

“From people sleeping rough and dying on our streets to the 6,581 children without a home and from the 28,247 homelessness applications last year to the 46 percent of calls to our free national helpline coming from the private rented sector, bad housing and homelessness in Scotland is still far from fixed.”

Brown said that through a year-long series of events and activities, under the banner ‘We’re Still Fighting’, the charity aims to re-engage people across Scotland with its core messages.