A housing emergency feels “close” in Renfrewshire with a “tidal wave” of homelessness on the horizon, an opposition leader has said.

Labour’s Iain McMillan has expressed serious concern about the situation as he considered the key issues facing the local authority in 2024.

It comes on the back of recent reports by council officers, which have highlighted the pressures departments – such as housing support and homeless services – are under against a challenging backdrop.

Last month, it was revealed at the leadership board there could be a sharp rise in homeless applications as asylum decisions are accelerated by the UK Government.

Before that, in late October, figures were disclosed at the communities and housing policy board showing a 12 per cent increase in homeless applications between 2021/22 and 2022/23. A further rise was considered likely in 2023/24.

In an interview, Councillor McMillan said: “I know we’ve not declared a housing emergency here in Renfrewshire, but it feels like we’re close to it, to be perfectly honest.

“We’ve got so many people on our waiting list and so many people that are homeless.

“Not everybody can afford one of these brand-spanking new, shiny quarter-of-a-million-pound houses that are popping up all over the place.

“That’s great if people that can afford that but we know that for a lot of the population that’s just a dream.

“We really need to push in the public sector, whether it’s councils or housing associations. It’s social housing we need. These are issues we would face head on.”

Glasgow City Council declared a housing emergency at the end of November, following the City of Edinburgh Council, which did earlier that month, and Argyll and Bute Council, which did in June.

Councillor McMillan, who represents Johnstone South and Elderslie, believes similar problems are being experienced across Renfrewshire.

He said: “I don’t want to scaremonger and I know the staff in Renfrewshire do an excellent job but we’re talking about a tidal wave of homelessness.

“People are struggling to pay their mortgages, people are getting put out of their houses by private landlords, private landlords have had enough, their own mortgages on properties have gone up so a lot of private landlords are just saying, ‘Game’s a bogey, I can lift my money and put it elsewhere’.

“Where do these people go? They go to the councils and other social landlords and try to get a house.

“It’s nobody’s fault. Very few people intentionally make themselves homeless. It’s not exactly a lifestyle choice. Sometimes circumstances mean that can happen.”

Councillor McMillan, who feels the Labour group was an effective opposition on such issues in 2023, conceded he is worried about the future of the council.

The latest financial update at December’s full council meeting emphasised the need for key service decisions to be made – and quickly – with a budget gap of £49.5m, before any council tax uplift, looming between 2024 and 2028.

“I fear for the future of local government in Scotland,” Councillor McMillan said.

“Services are cut to the bone, we’re really struggling, there’s staff running about doing the job of three or four people. That really concerns me.

“I just feel as if at some point we’re just going to be ripped apart so much that we’re only going to do core services and anything that we do above those core services are going to go.”