THE HOUSING minister has rejected a call to front load £40m of cash to build homes to help homeless people.

Kevin Stewart was asked by the Public Petitions Committee to respond to the call which it said merited consideration.

Mr Stewart, however, said that having a house was just one aspect of tackling homelessness and the government was still considering how to use the Ending Homelessness Fund.

He said: “The Committee will appreciate that homelessness is a complex issue: having a house, while important is only one element of the solution for some of our most vulnerable members of society with multiple and complex needs.

“Without effective and consistent support, some people will find it difficult to maintain a tenancy which can lead to a cycle of repeat homelessness.”

He noted the response from both the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, who both said they did not agree with eh petition and said a shortage of properties is not the prime reason for homelessness.

The Petition Committee had said the petition, by campaigner Sean Clerkin, had merit and should be taken further.

It called for £40m to be front loaded to build new and refurbish existing empty properties to be sued to house homeless people under the housing first model.

Mr Clerkin responded to the committee.

He said: “The conclusion has to be made that the Scottish Government so far have failed to match words with action. This petition marked a positive opportunity for Kevin Stewart, to announce the front loading of £40mof the £50m fund to tackle the homelessness crisis in Scotland but their response has failed totally on that in that the £21m allocated just follows their previous policy of spending £13m a year over five years.”