Edinburgh Council is expected to announce a housing emergency, highlighting a “crisis” in both the public and private sectors. The motion, which will be tabled by the council’s housing convener, Jane Meagher, will reference the city’s record homelessness figures along with a severe shortage of social housing and rapidly-increasing private rental costs. The council said this will hopefully encourage the Scottish government to provide additional resources to help meet these challenges.
Edinburgh’s situation is particularly dire, with around 5,000 households in the capital in temporary accommodation – the highest number in Scotland. Meanwhile, the city has the highest rental inflation rate in the UK at 13.7%. The council – run by a minority Labour administration – also claims that roughly 200 bids are made for every social rented home that comes up.
This motion, if it gains cross-party support, would make Edinburgh the first Scottish city council to formally announce a housing emergency – although Argyll and Bute became the first local authority to do so back in June. Shelter Scotland, who has campaigned for a housing emergency to be declared, stated that this move would be a significant moment in the fight against housing injustice in the city. Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, emphasized that this can’t mark the end of the story and urged councillors to back the motion and work to prepare an action plan following the declaration.
The Housing Minister, Paul McLennan, has commented that he sees dealing with homelessness as one of the government’s top priorities. However, the Scottish government is making available £3.5bn over this parliamentary term to support delivery of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with 70% of these allocated for social rent. The government has also provided local authorities with £52.5m between 2018-24 for their plans to help people into permanent housing, and they are investing at least £60m to help local authorities and registered social landlords to acquire properties for use as high-quality, affordable, permanent homes
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