A motion to declare a housing emergency in Dundee has been rejected by the SNP administration.
The bid was brought before elected members at a neighbourhood regeneration, housing and estate management committee on Monday.
The scheme will allow construction services to focus solely on the council’s housing stock for around five months to tackle the growing backlog of repairs and reduce the number of empty properties in the city to below pre-Covid levels.
However, opposition councillors wanted the authority to go further and called for a housing emergency to be declared in the city amid what they said were “extreme pressures” on housing and homelessness services in Dundee.
Council burying their heads in the sand
Labour group leader Kevin Keenan, who led the call, said: “The fact that we have got about 7,800 (residents) on a waiting list – even bringing back these (empty homes) isn’t going to make a real deal of difference.
“We need to accept there is a housing emergency and do whatever we can to address this problem.”
Labour councillor Pete Shears added: “We are burying our heads in the sand by saying it’s not an emergency because it is an emergency.
“It’s the biggest challenge facing our city just now I think and we can’t go on pretending that it’s not.”
Council wrestling with a repair backlog
Concerns were previously raised by opposition councillors that Dundee was heading towards a housing repair crisis.
Figures published by Dundee City Council earlier this year revealed a fifth of all repair jobs are not completed correctly the first time.
These figures, it was detailed, reflected a deteriorating short and long-term trend in performance.
It was also highlighted that around 80% of reactive repairs are carried out within set timescales – well below the council’s target of 93%.
Council bosses said skills shortages and difficulties in securing materials and supplies were to blame for the backlog.
Administration block bid
However, the SNP administration rejected the motion.
Committee convener Mark Flynn said: “I am minded at the moment not to declare a housing emergency.
“I think the waiting list is a bit of a deception in some respects – we have 7,000 on the waiting list but we don’t have 7,000 homeless.
“We have many in homes of that 7,000 and I think they are in relatively good homes, personally. I think declaring a housing emergency is very much just words.
“I’d like to see more action and I think you would agree the plan we have in front of us is action and that’s more important for myself.”
Thirteen councillors voted in favour of councillor Keenan’s motion and 15 against.
