Home ownership is an opportunity that we should try to make available for everyone.

As a Scottish Conservative, I firmly believe in the need to build enough houses to meet demand and allow everyone who works hard to buy a home at a reasonable price.

But, while it’s important to focus on improving the availability and affordability of housing, we must not forget the most vulnerable people who don’t have any kind of house to live in.

We must make it our mission to end homelessness.

In 2023, nobody should go without a roof over their head.

But in East Ayrshire, under the SNP Government and SNP-run council, we’re heading in the completely wrong direction.

The number of homelessness applications last year rose to more than 1,000.

That’s an increase of more than 25 per cent year on year.

Yet, instead of investing to drive down rates of homelessness, the SNP Government have slashed the housing budget by £170 million.

It’s not the first year they’ve cut the budget.

In fact, the SNP have failed to meet every single home-building target they set.

All of this has created the perfect storm, preventing East Ayrshire from meeting the housing needs of local people.

This has become more than just a housing emergency. It’s a national tragedy.

Last year, the number of deaths among people experiencing homelessness in Scotland hit a record high.

The number of families and children in temporary accommodation is also up.

For those young people, each move means starting their lives and their schooling again, leaving them with no stability at all.

When my colleagues and I challenged the SNP Government on the scale of this scandal, all the SNP did was play the political blame game that they enjoy so much.

Despite being in power for 15 years, and now possessing a Scottish Budget pushing £50 billion, they blamed all the problems on the UK.

Families in East Ayrshire and across Scotland deserve better.

They deserve to live in safe, secure and affordable housing.

But it seems they have been forgotten by a First Minister that no longer has working people’s interests at heart.

Nicola Sturgeon grew up in Ayrshire, but she has not done anywhere near enough to help the people who still live here.

Her focus is on pushing for another referendum and obsessing over gender reform.

In 2023, instead of more empty words from the SNP, we need the Scottish Government to declare a homeless emergency and implement an emergency action plan.