180,000 Scots’ mental health impacted by rising mortgages and rents

Scottish Liberal Democrats have warned that the mortgage crisis is causing a “mental health ticking time bomb,” after figures showed that almost 180,000 Scots’ mental health has been negatively affected by not being able to afford their rent or mortgage.

A survey by the Office for National Statistics has found 4% of Scottish adults said their mental health has been impacted by rising mortgages and rents in the past months. This is equivalent to an estimated 179,217 people across the country.

The survey also found 35% of Scots said they’d seen their rent or mortgage go up in the past six months, with 8% of those paying rent or a mortgage saying they were behind with their payments.

Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“Conservative and SNP mismanagement of the economy has left families to pick up the pieces.

“This survey shows that they have created a mental health time bomb and as the months tick by and more and more people face higher mortgage payments, there is a risk that things will go from bad to worse.

“Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to introduce an emergency Mortgage Protection Fund to support struggling families at risk of losing their home, paid for through reversing Conservative tax cuts to the banks”