Glasgow’s housing crisis “may well get worse” as a result of Scottish Government budget cuts, a senior Labour councillor has warned.

Soryia Siddique, the city’s Labour group deputy leader, said she was “extremely disappointed” by a response from housing minister Paul McLennan after she called on the government to reverse a cut to its affordable housing budget.

In a letter to First Minister John Swinney, Councillor Siddique asked him to reconsider a “net cut of £120m” to the housing budget to help address child poverty.

It came after council officials reported the delivery of 6,500 new homes in Glasgow was “at risk” with the city expected to receive just over £78m from the government, rather than the £104m it had expected.

A response from Mr McLennan, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, stated the Scottish Government continues to “call on the UK Government to reverse the almost 9% cut to Scotland’s capital budget”.

He added the government was making almost £600m available towards the delivery of affordable homes in 2024/25 and remains “committed to address levels of homelessness and to improve the supply of social and affordable housing”.

Glasgow declared a housing emergency in November last year due to rising homelessness. The Scottish Government declared a national emergency last month.

Councillor Siddique’s letter highlighted the “very detrimental effect on children’s welfare and life opportunities of homelessness and living in temporary housing accommodation” after Mr Swinney said tackling child poverty was his priority.

When the council declared a housing emergency, there were more than 5,200 open homelessness cases and “990 children had spent between one and two years in temporary accommodation”, she said.

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Mr McLennan’s response stated he was “profoundly disappointed” that the UK Spring budget failed to “provide additional capital funding which we could have used for vital infrastructure, including affordable housing”.

He added the Scottish Government was focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and a review, scheduled for 2026/27, had been brought forward to “concentrate on deliverability”.

The minister said: “We will continue to do everything we can within our devolved powers to address levels of homelessness and improve the supply of social and affordable housing — but truly tackling the housing emergency will rely on a joint approach between UK, Scottish and local government.”

Cllr Siddique said she had hoped the First Minister “meant what he said and that looking at these figures he could not ignore the reality that the cut in the housing budget could make the plight of these children worse”.

She added she was “extremely disappointed and dismayed” by the housing minister’s response which “merely repeated the response to every criticism i.e blame Westminster”.

“Even if it was a 9% cut in capital it doesn’t explain a 25% cut in the Scottish Housing Budget,” Cllr Siddique said. “That’s a choice.”

She also said the government was showing “no sign of urgency” on the introduction of compulsory sales orders (CSOs). CSOs could mean owners are forced to sell if they don’t invest or repair their properties, and council officials believe they could be the solution for up to 50% of empty homes in the city.

Cllr Siddique said: “They have been looking at it for years — a few years more won’t matter is the implication. It matters to those thousands of children in temporary accommodation throughout Scotland whose life chances are being reduced on a daily basis.”

Mr McLennan said funding had recently been announced for the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership to bring homes back into use and the government is “properly and fully considering the justification and benefits” of CSOs “against a complex practical and legal background”.