Green councillor Susan Rae has expressed serious concerns that Edinburgh has a long way to go to in tackling the homeless B&B crisis.
Commenting after a homelessness charity has criticised the city council for breaking the law on the amount of time families are spending in B&B hostels [1], Cllr Rae, who herself has had to stay in a homeless B&B, said: “One of the council’s big aims is to end the use of bed and breakfast hotels for homeless people.
“However, in the last six months alone, bed and breakfast use has soared by 14% to almost 120,000 bed-nights, some as far as away as Motherwell and Livingston. This is not so much missing the target as heading in completely the wrong direction.
“This comes at a human cost. Bed and breakfast is the worst form of accommodation for homeless people and offers zero foundation on which to rebuild lives. But it is also at huge financial cost: with temporary accommodation as a whole costing £17.5 million a year. That is £17.5m of a sticking plaster which could be funding new homes.
“Fundamentally, Edinburgh needs far more genuinely affordable homes of course. But right now there is a crisis which needs a complete overhaul of the way homelessness is prevented and the systems which get people swiftly into the homes which are available.”
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
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