housing emergency – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Chartered Institute of Housing to declare a Scottish ‘Housing Emergency’ at national conference

Scotland’s housing professionals are coming together this week for the country’s biggest housing event as its professional body is ready to announce a housing emergency.

With three local authorities (Argyll and Bute, Edinburgh and Glasgow) having declared a housing emergency, and up to a dozen on the brink of doing so, Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland will set out its call that Scotland has moved past a housing crisis and is in the midst of a housing emergency.

This call from CIH Scotland comes the week after the Scottish Government cut the affordable housing supply budget by £196 million and new homeless figures show over 30,000 open homelessness cases, a 10% rise on figures 12 months ago.

CIH Scotland national director, Callum Chomczuk, said: “Scotland is the midst of a housing emergency, and we need a political response.

“We want to see the UK budget on Wednesday provide increased spending, increased capital spending and clarity over future Financial Transaction allocations, which would mean more funding could be provided for affordable housing in the coming year.

“However, we also want to see the Scottish government prioritise the delivery and building of affordable housing. We want to see the affordable housing budget front loaded so social landlords can keep building, as it is always going to cheaper to build today than it is tomorrow.

“The Scottish budget last week fell far short of what the sector has been asking for, but it is never too late to invest in people, invest in communities and invest in social housing. We need an emergency plan and funding for delivering the social homes Scotland needs.”

Callum’s comments and the declaration of a housing emergency are expected at today’s opening session of the two-day Housing Festival which brings together around 800 housing professionals, speakers, and exhibitors at the SEC in Glasgow to discuss the latest issues, challenges, and solutions for the sector.

Day two of the conference begins with a breakfast general election hustings session giving the housing sector a chance to hear the priorities of each of the five main political parties and ask questions about how they seek to support the housing sector.

Later that morning the housing minister is expected to discuss the Housing Bill and Housing to 2024. Providing another opportunity for lively debate as housing professionals ask questions of the minister and provide feedback on the current status of housing in Scotland.

Councillors agree next stage of addressing housing emergency

CITY councillors have approved an action plan as they work towards tackling the severe shortage of suitable housing in the capital.

Following the unanimous decision to declare a housing emergency on Thursday 2 November, the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee agreed a report on Tuesday (27 February) which sets out actions to respond to the crisis.

The actions are based on wide engagement with our partner organisations and Councillors, including 14 engagement workshops which helped identify key priorities.

The measures outlined in the Housing Emergency Action Plan are expected to reduce the number of households in Edinburgh without settled accommodation.

They include:

Reviewing the Allocation Policy for Council Homes to ensure it continues to enable fair access to housing, including consideration of protected characteristics, such as gender.
Improve the standard of repairs and repairs response for Council housing.
Ensure all relevant and appropriate partners are included and supported to resolve the housing emergency.
Improve the relationship between housing officer and tenant, ensuring local housing staff are visible in their localities and available to meet tenants where and when this is required.

It comes as the Council agreed to introduce a 7% rent rise for tenants over 10 years at the Full Council meeting on Thursday 22 February. In an effort to tackle the city’s housing crisis, the increase could raise around £2bn.

Around 80% of tenants in Edinburgh receive assistance with their rent in the form of housing benefits or Universal Credit. The council intends to extend its Tenant Hardship Fund to support households who aren’t entitled to this support to access funding if they struggle to afford an increase in rent.

Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener Jane Meagher said: “It’s so important that we take drastic action to protect the most vulnerable people in our city before it’s too late. The ongoing cost-of-living crisis has led to a demand for temporary accommodation in Edinburgh which far outstrips supply.

“Having a safe, comfortable home is a basic human right so we’re determined to do everything within our means to put an end to this housing emergency.

“The measures outlined in the Action Plan, along with the 7% rent rise which will allow us to repair, upgrade, and retrofit housing and to build and buy much needed social and affordable housing, go a long way in tackling the crisis. However, the reality is that we can only act within the financial limitations of being the lowest funded local authority in Scotland.

“We need a concerted and co-ordinated response, and my thanks go to our partners who have shown support from the day we declared the housing emergency. It gives me great confidence that we can work together to improve the situation, but we can’t do it alone.

“We need more support from the Scottish Government to end the crisis once and for all. Their decision to slash nearly £200m from the affordable housing budget comes at a time when we need vital funding now more than ever. I won’t stop fighting for fairer funding.”

Social homes vital for Edinburgh’s future Shelter Scotland tells summit

Delivering more social homes is the only way to end Edinburgh’s housing emergency according to a leading housing charity.

Speaking at a housing summit hosted by the Edinburgh Futures Institute, Shelter Scotland Director Alison Watson said investing in social homes would be vital in fixing the city’s broken housing system.

The summit comes just a day after new figures revealed that 1,525 children in Edinburgh are living in temporary accommodation, the highest number on record and more than any other local authority in Scotland.

The same figures also showed an increase in the number of households in temporary accommodation, the number of open homeless applications, and the number of breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order in Edinburgh.

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said: “Record numbers of children in Edinburgh have nowhere to call home, rents are out of control, resource starved local services can’t cope and so people’s housing rights are being breached, the law is being broken, with alarming regularity.

“Undoubtedly the root cause of Edinburgh’s housing emergency is a chronic shortage of social housing. Addressing that shortfall is the only way to fix the capital’s utterly broken housing system.

“Only yesterday the Scottish Government has pressed ahead with brutal cuts to the housing budget – a choice which is set to make the situation much worse.

“Our politicians need to understand that you can’t slash funding for social housing then expect those who live in the capital to take you seriously when you say you’re committed to tackling Edinburgh’s housing emergency.”

Ways to work together to ease Scotland’s ongoing housing crisis

Just before Scottish Ministers slashed Scotland’s affordable homes budget by 26 per cent, Glasgow last month (November 30) became the latest major local authority in Scotland to declare a “housing emergency”, following the lead of Edinburgh and citing “unprecedented pressures” facing the council’s services (writes RICCARDO GIOVANACCI).

While of course there is a political element to these dramatic gestures – Labour-led Edinburgh is blaming Holyrood and SNP-led Glasgow is pointing the finger at Westminster – the declarations are a sure sign that the housing market isn’t working and that something needs to be done.

New statistics just released (December 13) show that the country’s housing crisis is intensifying, with plummeting numbers of both new starts and completions. Starts were down 24%, meaning that the crisis will only become more acute in years to come.

In more pragmatic times, before the private rental sector became public enemy No 1 in the eyes of some of the country’s more radical politicians, private landlords would have stepped into this breach and filled the gap between supply and demand.

They would have done this by bringing properties to market which would have accommodated a fluid and flexible population of tenants at rents they could afford until they found homes of their own or longer-term social rentals which suited their needs.

Now, however, many of the landlords who might previously have provided this service are abandoning the market, driven out by increasingly punitive legislation, fewer tax breaks, rent controls and the mora attractive market of holiday let sites such as Airbnb.

Is this sea change factored in to the concept of a housing emergency in the City Chambers of our great cities? There is little evidence to suggest that it is. Instead, councillors, single-issue charities and NGOs focus exclusively on the perceived plight of tenants. There is a marked lack of balance in current political thinking.

There does not appear to be much in the way of appreciation that elements such as the cost of living, rents, running costs, disposable income and inflation impact on landlords as well as the people for whom they are providing a roof over their heads.

Tenants’ Rights Minister Patrick Harvie was told in April this year by delegates at the Scottish Property Federation that rent control legislation he introduced the previous year had led to investors pulling millions of pounds out of Scotland.

Despite such warnings, the word on the street is that the Scottish Government is considering making the temporary restriction imposed on rent increases to help with the cost of living into a permanent rent control.

It is all very well to criticise others for inaction or for incomprehension of the seriousness of the situation, but what can realistically be done to help alleviate this escalating crisis?

Here are five suggestions which might go some way to help:

The overall tax burden on landlords needs addressed. They are currently taxed full amount and there needs to be a reward to encourage further investment, since the activity is by no means risk-free. There is nothing at the moment withing the tax regime to encourage participants into the sector.

Landlords should be treated with respect, rather than the current disdain. They are responsible grown-ups who want happy tenants. Longer-term lets are in everybody’s interest.

There is no reason not to keep regulation as it is. Landlords have factored the current regime in. But upcoming legislation needs more balance, as it is too heavily weighted in favour of tenants at the moment.

Rent caps are not working and experts said they wouldn’t work. The Government and other interested parties should listen to advice from professionals when it is asked for.

Career advice for young people to consider the trades as a career to improve housing stock in long term.

These are simply suggestions, but the more the parties involved in Scotland’s housing market can work together, rather than against each other, the more likely it is that the current and future crises will ease.

Riccardo Giovanacci is Managing Director at Glasgow-based Rosevale Letting.

Ministers have no plan to arrest social housing decline, say Shelter Scotland

A leading housing and homelessness charity has claimed the Scottish Government has no plan to arrest the continued decline in social housing delivery.

Shelter Scotland made the claim last week in response to figures showing that social house building has slowed down significantly.

The numbers show the number of new social homes completed in the 12 months to September 2023 was down 2%, the number new social homes approved was down 18%, while the number of new homes started was down an alarming 29% compared to the year before.

Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said last week: “The alarming decline in the delivery of social homes shown in today’s figures reflects Scottish Government choices.

“Ministers can’t claim to be ignorant of what this means; it means that an already devastating housing emergency will get worse and continue to devastate lives.

“Local housing officers, charities, and the experts in its own working groups have repeatedly and clearly told the Scottish Government that more social homes are needed to effectively fight the housing emergency and reduce the numbers of people trapped in temporary accommodation, but their words have gone unheeded.

“Scottish Government choices made the decline shown in today’s figures grimly predictable.

“Unless we see something different in the budget the only possible conclusion we can reach is that the Scottish Government has no serious plan to tackle homelessness and end the housing emergency.”

Council drive to address Edinburgh’s housing emergency

An initial draft of an action plan has been published by the City of Edinburgh Council as it works towards tackling growing homelessness in the Capital.

After officially declaring a housing emergency earlier this month – in recognition of close to 5,000 households now facing homelessness against a shortage of affordable housing – the beginnings of a 25-point Housing Emergency Action Plan will be considered by the council’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee on Tuesday (5 December).

The plan proposes the council turns void homes around more quickly and spot purchases ‘off the shelf’ homes, to increase affordable housing supply at pace at a time when construction costs have risen exponentially. If agreed, a more detailed strategy featuring costings and specific targets will be created and brought to a full council meeting in February, with input from industry and voluntary organisations from across the city.

It comes as Glasgow City Council follows suit and formally declared a Housing Emergency yesterday (Thursday 30 November).

Councillor Jane Meagher, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “We’re truly at a point where urgent, united action must be taken to do right by the most vulnerable in our city.

“Thousands of people in Edinburgh are finding themselves with their lives on hold as they live through the hugely stressful reality of losing their home.

“Every night, close to 5,000 households are now sleeping in temporary accommodation in this city, wondering when and indeed if they will receive the security of a permanent place to live.

“Having a home is a basic human right and by highlighting the issue we’re determined to do everything within our means to address it.

“We’ve seen an outpouring of support from the third sector and industry which gives me great confidence that we can work together to improve the situation and clearly Glasgow is in a similar position. We need to address this issue as a city and nationally at all levels of council and government.

“Despite our success with our partners building close to 7,000 new affordable homes since 2017/18 and having almost 2,000 under construction right now, plus very positive work with the third sector in preventing homelessness, the cost of living crisis means that demand for affordable housing is far outstripping supply.

“The added pressure of rising construction costs and reduced budgets mean we need to think differently. I hope this action plan forms the basis of what will become a wider city plan.”

The Homeless Action Plan will be considered by Committee alongside a series of housing reports which draw attention to the scale of Edinburgh’s housing challenges and opportunities to create more housing, if the funding required to achieve significant change is found.

The Strategy for Purchasing Land and Homes to Meet Affordable Housing Need demonstrates the success the Council has had delivering new homes despite challenging market conditions, which includes the delivery of 1,425 new Council homes and a further 508 currently under construction.

This has been possible through creative working, including for example the council purchasing the old Liberton Hospital site directly from NHS Lothian.

The annual Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) reveals a pipeline of over 11,000 new affordable and social homes could be possible through partnership working in Edinburgh over the next five years, but that would require Scottish Government grant funding of almost £900 million (based on current market costs), or almost four times Edinburgh’s current grant funding allocation for affordable housebuilding.

Further work will take place with Registered Social Landlord partners to understand the impact of the housing emergency to them and tenants, to work together to achieve next steps.

Holyrood: Boyack slams SNP failure to demand a housing emergency

Yesterday the SNP/Green led Scottish Government voted down Scottish Labour’s Motion to declare a housing emergency across Scotland.

In her speech Scottish Labour’s Sarah Boyack MSP, praised the leadership shown by City of Edinburgh Councillors but called out the SNP and Greens for failing to do so in Holyrood.

Ms Boyack urged the Scottish Government to provide local authorities, like Edinburgh, the resources they need to take substantial steps in tackling the Housing emergency.

Ms Boyack also used her speech to highlight practical solutions, that could be taken to make an immediate start on tackling the housing emergency, such as bringing empty homes back into use. However, Edinburgh Council need resources from the Scottish government, to make this happen.

Speaking after the debate, Sarah Boyack said: “Tackling the housing emergency in Edinburgh needs to be a priority. Every day I receive emails from constituents who are struggling to access the housing they need or are being priced out altogether.

“SNP Councillors recognise the magnitude of the crisis, so why doesn’t the SNP Government?

“So far, the Scottish Government has failed to recognise the scale of the challenge. The Scottish Government needs to work constructively with all councils, to ensure the resources are in place, to adequately tackle this emergency

“MSPs will have another opportunity to recognise that we are facing a housing emergency through my motion and subsequent members business in the new year.”