Earlier this month Scotland’s homebuilding industry gathered for the annual Homes for Scotland conference in Edinburgh, a city in the grips of a housing emergency.

The homebuilding industry makes a critical economic and social contribution through investment, employment, community financial support and, of course, the homes provided, both for private purchase and social housing…

Over 100 people are estimated to be rough sleeping each night in Scotland’s two biggest cities. At a recent count, where Simon Community volunteers combed city centres late at night, they located and supported 80 people sleeping rough in Edinburgh, and 35 people in Glasgow, with this single evening snapshot reflecting the scale of the challenge faced by the charity.

Today (10 October) is World Homeless Day, providing an important chance for us all to consider the impact of our homes on our health, and how we would feel if we didn’t have this place of physical and emotional security. It’s no coincidence that today is also World Mental Health Day, reflecting how mental health challenges can all too often be a cause or result of homelessness.

The cost of living crisis is hitting hard and escalating costs are a significant challenge for businesses across Scotland. With inflation recently hitting a 40-year high and energy costs forecast to increase again in spring, business leaders are facing serious decisions on delivering priorities.

This week marks world homelessness and world mental health day. These two issues are inextricably linked. People experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness suffer from incredible stress and have very often experienced significant trauma in their lives. As Chief Executive of Simon Community Scotland, our country’s largest provider of homelessness support services, I am very aware of this; in fact we see very few people accessing our services who do not also have significant and long term mental health problems.