Tag: priority

City Council: Clarification on Council Housing allocation following media misinformation

Last week, an article in the media and subsequent posts on social media channels, inaccurately reported details about how we prioritise and allocate council housing.

It is important that we address misinformation and set out the facts.

Status of those applying for council housing

  • We cannot house asylum seekers. This is a matter managed by the Home Office, not the Council. 
  • People who have been assessed and granted ‘Leave to Remain’ status by the Home Office have legal rights to services including access to housing and other public services. They are afforded the same process, support and respect as every other applicant.
  • It is entirely false to say people in this position have been prioritised for housing. 
  • We provide advice and assistance to any individual or household who declares themself homeless and this can, but does not always, include the provision of accommodation.

How we prioritise council housing

  • To address the housing emergency in Edinburgh and to reduce the number of people staying in unsuitable temporary accommodation, we temporarily paused the letting of council homes and accelerated our work to bring empty council housing back into use.
  • This has allowed us to prioritise temporary housing for people assessed as legally homeless and to reduce the number of people staying in unsuitable accommodation in accordance with Scottish and UK housing legislation. This does not mean that people in this position have a permanent council house.

Covid vaccine: Prioritise people receiving palliative care, says Briggs

Lothian MSP Miles Briggs, who is Co-convenor of the Cancer Cross Party Group at the Scottish Parliament, has submitted a motion at the Parliament calling on the Scottish Government to consider prioritising people receiving palliative care and their immediate families in the forthcoming rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

The motion acknowledged the immense strain that the COVID-19 pandemic and the necessary public health response have placed on many people with pre-existing medical conditions, especially people diagnosed with a terminal illness and who are receiving palliative care.

Prioritising people who have a terminal illness for a Covid-19 vaccine would allow them to live life as fully as possible with family and friends in the limited time they have left.

The motion also urged the Scottish Government to consider allowing clinicians discretion to fast-track individual patients and their immediate family members whose need for vaccination is deemed to be most urgent where it is clinically safe and appropriate to do so.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “The arrival of a vaccine for Covid-19 is what we have all been waiting for and means that Scotland can start recovering from this cruel virus.

“With the rollout out of the vaccine to start next week, the Scottish Government is now facing the difficult decisions of who should get the vaccine first.

“My motion at the Scottish Parliament, has called on Ministers to allows clinicians discretion to fast-track individual patients and their immediate family members, so that the people diagnosed with a terminal illness can see their families and loved ones in the limited time they have left.”