Humza Yousaf urged to ditch £190m cuts to housing budget amid Scotland's homelessness emergency

Humza Yousaf has been urged to ditch a “devastating” £190million housing cash cut in this week’s Scottish budget amid soaring rents and a homelessness emergency.Campaigners, housebuilders and social housing groups have called on SNP ministers to invest in more affordable housing at a time many Scots are struggling to keep a roof over their heads.Shona Robison, the Finance Secretary, will ask MSPs on Tuesday to vote in favour of Holyrood’s spending plans for the year ahead.The draft Budget includes a massive £196million cut in funding for affordable housing in Scotland.In an open letter published in the Daily Record today, campaigners and industry bodies have joined forces to plead with the First Minister not to axe the housing budget.The plea comes from Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Jane Wood from industry body Homes for Scotland and Callum Chomczuk, Scottish Direct of the Chartered Institute of Housing.The letter is also backed by the anti-poverty think tank the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.Their direct plea to Humza Yousaf claims cuts to housing are “the worst possible decision at the worst possible time”.The letter states: “Tomorrow the Scottish Parliament will decide whether to approve your government’s budget – a budget that proposes to slash the money available to build social homes by more than a quarter.“The planning budget, which is crucial to the delivery of more homes, is also to be cut by 43 per cent.“But we have a housing emergency with independent research evidencing that 693,000 Scottish households are facing some form of housing need.“Almost one in 20 people in Scotland are on a waiting list for a social home, 30,000 are homeless and nearly 10,000 children