Information obtained from Fife Council in March showed that the number of applicants currently on the Fife Housing Partnership housing waiting list was 13,492. This represented an increase of 1,401 over the previous two years.
The current year’s figure included 1,122 applicants who were assessed to be homeless.
The most recent ‘Homelessness in Scotland’ statistics published last year showed a record 1,071 households in Fife living in temporary accommodation. This represented the highest number on record since the statistics began in 2002.
Fife Council voted to declare a housing emergency a year ago in March 2024, with the Scottish Government doing the same two months later.
Willie Rennie said: “There is no doubt about the scale of the housing crisis in Fife. People are desperate for a home but for too many people it is all but impossible to find an affordable place to live. These figures are a worrying sign that things are headed in the wrong direction.
“Since the SNP government declared a housing emergency last year, the number of children in temporary accommodation across Scotland has got worse, not better. They did real damage by cutting hundreds of millions of pounds from the Affordable Housing Supply Programme.
“Through our budget negotiations the Scottish Liberal Democrats were able to undo that mistake. But the government needs to recognise that its wider policies have also scared away the investment we need to build more homes.
“We need to restore confidence in order to increase supply and I will be taking forward amendments to the Housing Bill to try to give the sector certainty.”