Lorna Slater, the Scottish Greens MSP for Lothian has welcomed the Scottish Parliament’s vote to introduce a national rent freeze and new protections from evictions.
The measures in the Bill, which was introduced by a Scottish Green Minister, Patrick Harvie MSP, was overwhelmingly passed last week. It will provide vital protections for tenants over Winter and last until at least March 2023.
These changes will help tenants across Lothian where the average monthly rent is £942, which is an increase of 41.7% since 2010.
Lorna Slater, the Scottish Green MSP for Lothian said: “I am delighted that this Bill has been passed. These are vital changes that will make a huge difference at what is a desperate time for tenants all across Scotland.
“The measures in the Bill will provide stability and support for households and families across Lothian and beyond at a time when many are being hit by soaring costs and bills.
“These are the most progressive set of tenants’ rights anywhere in the UK. The legislation, which will last until at least the end of March 2023, puts Scotland at the forefront of tenants rights in the UK and sets a crucial precedent for other governments to follow.
“With Greens in the Scottish Government, we are leading the change and building a fairer, greener and better future for our communities.”
The City of Edinburgh Council is to write to the Scottish and UK Governments to request emergency and long-term funding to address the scale of Edinburgh’s housing pressures.
It follows a decision taken by the Council this week (Thursday 22 September) to consider freezing tenants’ rents for a third year in a row, in response to the cost of living crisis. The Council Leader will also write to the Scottish Government requesting that the rent freeze across private and social rented homes is maintained until rent controls are in place in Edinburgh.
Moving the motion, the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener Councillor Jane Meagher described the option of another rent freeze as “a humane response to a massive debt crisis where people are facing the toughest financial squeeze of their lifetimes.”
Instead of a rent consultation, the Council will invite tenants to share views on the financial challenges they are facing in relation to the cost of living crisis – including rent, food, energy and insulation – which will involve tenants’ representatives and inform the work of the Edinburgh Partnership and Poverty Commission.
Officers have also been asked to bring a report to a meeting of the Housing Homelessness and Fair Work Committee on the implications of a rent freeze for council tenants in 2023/24, the subsequent impact of this freeze on the Housing Revenue Account over the next three years, with a detailed financial strategy.
Cllr Meagher said: “We are all in the grip of a cost of living crisis but it is our most vulnerable residents who are on the frontline. Elderly people, those with young families, residents who are ill – many tenants are already facing extreme financial hardship and are struggling at supermarket tills and with their energy bills.
“We shouldn’t need to add the unbearable burden of a rent rise to that, and we must provide a level of continuity in these uncertain times. It is a difficult decision to take, however, because the money paid by tenants in their rents pays for our Housing Service and enables us to borrow money to improve Council homes and build new affordable housing.
“With construction costs also rising – and without additional support from government – keeping rents the same will without a doubt make our newbuild programme very challenging.
“I’d like to thank Living Rents for joining our Council meeting to highlight the challenges which lie before us. Council Leader Cammy Day will now detail the scale of Edinburgh’s housing crisis to government, requesting both emergency and long-term funding to allow us to purchase and build more homes for social rent.”
Ministers act to protect Scots facing cost of living crisis
A combined rent freeze and moratorium on evictions to help people through the cost crisis has been announced as the centrepiece of the 2022-23 Programme for Government (PfG).
The programme outlines emergency legislation which will be introduced to put in place a rent freeze until at least 31 March 2023 and a moratorium on evictions, as well as a new tenants’ rights campaign. In addition a ‘one-stop-shop’ website will be introduced to provide people with information on the range of benefits and support available to help them through the current cost of living crisis.
With £3 billion allocated to the end of March for a range of support that will help mitigate the impact of the cost crisis on households, the PfG also confirms the Scottish Child Payment will increase to £25 per week per eligible child from 14 November when it also opens to all under 16s.
In addition, the programme includes the roll out of free school meals across all primary school age groups, doubles the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million to help households at risk of self-disconnection or self-rationing of energy, confirms rail fares will be frozen until March 2023 and widens the Warmer Homes Fuel Poverty Programme.
For businesses – in addition to an existing package of financial aid worth over £800 million – six ground-breaking ‘tech scalers’ will be opened, two job-boosting Greenports progressed and the National Strategy for Economic Transformation focussing on economy supporting measures continued.
In total, the PfG sets out 18 new Bills including legislation on an independence referendum and major reforms in the justice system, including a Criminal Justice Reform Bill that will propose the end of the Not Proven verdict in Scots Law and provide anonymity for complainers in sexual offence cases. A Bill for the creation of the new National Care Service will also go through parliament this year.
The programme also builds on long-term commitments made in the Bute House Agreement and restates Ministers’ commitment to the importance of delivering on Scotland’s climate ambitions. These range from a consultation on legislation to transform how buildings are heated to continuing record investment in active travel.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This Programme for Government is published in the context of the most severe cost crisis in many of our lifetimes. It is a crisis pushing millions into poverty and poses a genuine danger, not just to livelihoods, but to lives.
“The Scottish Government is already committed to a range of measures, worth almost £3 billion this year, that will help with rising costs. But the magnitude of what is being experienced by people and businesses means that mitigation is nowhere near sufficient. What is needed now is action on a scale similar to the initial Covid response.
“Regrettably, the powers to act in the manner and on the scale needed do not lie with this Parliament. In my view, they should lie here. If they did, we could have acted already. But they don’t. These powers are reserved to Westminster.
“The cost crisis means this Programme for Government is more focussed than ever before – deliberately so – with priority actions to provide help now.
“To that end we will provide more help for people who may be at risk of self-rationing or even self-disconnection from their energy supply and we will double the Fuel Insecurity Fund to £20 million this year.
“We will also propose emergency legislation to put in place a rent freeze until at least March and a moratorium on evictions.
“Given the powers to act in the manner and on the scale needed do not lie with this Parliament, this Programme for Government also provides for a Scottish Independence Referendum Bill.
“Independence would give us – like it does other independent countries – the levers we desperately need to respond to a crisis such as this. That’s the prize we surely must grasp.”
Commenting on the Scottish Programme for Government, Peter Kelly, director of the Poverty Alliance said: “The First Minister outlined many important measures today. The increase in the value and availability of the Scottish Child Payment will help thousands of households with rising living costs. Rent freezes will help tenants across the country.
“But we could do more. The First Minister said that it is not a lack of political will that prevents us from further action to help people with this cost crisis – it is a lack of money. So, the upcoming emergency budget review must focus on getting additional cash into the pockets of people on low incomes.
“One way we can raise money in Scotland, is through devolved taxes. Previous changes to the Scottish Income Tax have raised hundreds of millions of pounds for public services. We can go further. There are also opportunities to reform local council taxes, to make them fairer and raise much-needed revenue for overstretched services in our communities. There was no mention of any new wealth taxes in this programme for government.
“The First Minister talked about creating a culture of solidarity in Scotland. People in Scotland already believe in holding out a hand to others when we need help. We can use our tax system to support each other in this time of crisis, and reflect the values of compassion and justice that we all share.”
Commenting on the Scottish Programme for Government, Friends of the Earth Scotland head of campaigns Mary Church said: “There is a welcome recognition in the Programme for Government that the cost of living crisis and the climate emergency are interconnected but the action to mitigate their impacts and tackle their root causes falls far short of what is needed.
“One year on from COP26 in Glasgow, the Scottish Government’s fine rhetoric has not turned into the transformative action needed to drive change across transport, housing and energy.
“The Scottish Government must use its forthcoming energy strategy to spell out how it will secure a rapid and fair transition away from the fossil fuels which are driving both crises within the next decade. By transforming our energy system to run on reliable, affordable renewable energy we can future proof our lives against further damage from volatile fossil fuels.
“The energy strategy must focus on demand reduction, energy efficiency and renewables, which can deliver decent green jobs in Scotland instead of fantasy techno-fixes like hydrogen and carbon capture. The Scottish Government has admitted that these speculative negative emission technologies won’t be able to deliver this decade so it’s hard to see why it continues to throw time and resources at the fossil fuel industry’s pipe dreams.
TRAIN FARE FREEZE
“The freeze on ScotRail fares demonstrates how public ownership can keep fares from getting even higher, benefiting passengers and helping support the necessary shift away from cars. While the fare freeze is welcome, the Scottish Government should be going further and actually reducing fares to help more people leave the car behind.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
“We saw the same promise to introduce a Circular Economy Bill 12 months ago, it must be delivered this time. Consumption targets to reduce both Scotland’s carbon footprint and material footprints need to be at the heart of the Circular Economy Bill to create real change.
HUMAN RIGHTS BILL
“It’s disappointing that the Human Rights Bill that would enshrine the right to a healthy and safe environment in Scots Law has been kicked into the long grass. This is a vital piece of legal protection for people and nature that should not be delayed any further nor cannot it be allowed to become a political football in the constitutional debate.”
City council Leader Cammy Day has welcomed yesterday’s announcement by the Scottish Government that it intends to introduce a bill to give councils the powers to introduce a visitor levy.
The bill, which is expected to be laid before parliament early next year, forms of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government for 2022/23, as set out by the First Minister in Holyrood this afternoon.
The council has long campaigned for the powers to introduce a levy – which would see overnight visitors pay a small additional charge on their accommodation – and has produced a substantial body of work to back its case.
It was estimated then that a levy in Edinburgh could raise in the region of £15m per year to invest in sustainable tourism and managing the impact of tourism on the city.
Council Leader Cammy Day said: “This is fantastic news for the city, and a landmark step following years of work here in the Capital to make the case for a visitor levy – something that’s common practice in other major cities and destinations across the world.
“We’re very proud to be one of the world’s most popular visitor destinations, but we’re equally aware that this success comes at a cost. That’s why we believe it’s right to ask visitors to make a small contribution to help us sustain and improve our tourism offer while managing its impact.
“We’ve been building the case for Edinburgh to become the first city in the UK to introduce such a levy, consistently and repeatedly making the case to Scottish Ministers without success – until now. From our citywide consultation held in 2018, our proposals gained overwhelming backing from Edinburgh’s residents, businesses and attractions – and, importantly, also from the majority of accommodation providers.
“Ultimately the income this generates will help us continue to invest in and manage the success of tourism on our city, making sure we continue to offer one of the most enviable and enjoyable visitor experiences in the world – while bringing new and additional benefits to our residents who live and work here all year round.
“We acknowledge, of course, that this has been an extremely challenging period for our culture and hospitality industries and are fully committed to working together with them, the wider tourism industry and other partners to co-produce a scheme that works best for the whole of our Capital city.
“I’ll be pushing the Scottish Government hard to ensure that any income generated is in addition to our block grant funding – not instead of it – and that we’re in a position to benefit from this as soon as possible.”
Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, Cllr Kate Campbell wrote in yesterday’s Evening News about how the council’s housing budget is managed:
The council’s housing budget is entirely ringfenced from the rest of council spending. Tenant’s rent is only spent on housing: services for council tenants, repairs, large scale upgrades to existing homes – things like new roofs or lifts or windows – and building new council homes.
Every year we set a one year budget, which includes setting rent levels for the coming year; a ten year strategy which sets investment plans for new and existing homes; and a 30 year strategy which makes sure that the HRA remains healthy and that we can afford all of the investment we want to make.
And there is a lot of investment we want to make. We’ve proposed £2.9bn of investment in council housing over the next ten years. Much of this is about building desperately needed new council homes to replace the stock we lost through the Right to Buy policy, which has sadly seen many former council homes turn into unaffordable private lets.
We’ll also invest £850m in existing homes. Energy efficiency measures are a big part, improving the quality of life for council tenants and resulting in warmer homes that are cheaper to heat.
We’ll continue with improvements inside tenant’s homes but also spend money on communal areas and the wider estates. Tenants have said they want better bin stores, playparks, community growing spaces, benches, landscaping and planting. This will make outdoor space useable, safe and bring a wealth of wellbeing benefits.
We can’t compromise our ability to make these investments. They’re crucial to the quality of life for tenants. Which is why proposing a rent freeze this year was a hard decision to make.
Due to Covid, there have been delays to construction. At points sites were completely closed, but there have also been social distancing and health and safety requirements that have slowed work down over the last two years.
So there has been an underspend. This means that although over the ten-year plan we need the additional funding we would have got from a 1.8% rent increase, we don’t need it now. We can freeze rents and not affect investment as long as it is made up from slightly higher increases in later years.
And right now we have a cost of living crisis which is hitting people on the lowest incomes the hardest.
We’ve already seen the cut of £20 a week to universal credit – a loss of over £1000 a year to many families in Edinburgh. Energy prices have rocketed, with predictions that they’ll continue to rise.
Too many people face the stark choice between feeding their families and heating their homes. And from April 2022 there will be an increase in National Insurance contributions.
And the ONS announced last week that inflation is the highest it’s been for nearly 30 years. But while overall it’s 5.4%, essentials go up by much, much more. Again, hitting people already struggling far harder.
So a rent freeze in this exceptional year feels like a difficult choice, but the right one.
It surely goes without saying that the rent freeze has nothing at all to do with the Council elections coming up in May, of course! – Ed
Council budget ‘stays true to core priorities for Edinburgh’
Budget agreed for 2021/22 despite ongoing pressures of Covid response (around £85 million to date)
Budget shaped by – and addresses – key priorities of poverty, sustainability and wellbeing
Council Tax to be frozen in 2021/22
One-year rent freeze for Council house tenants following a joint motion by Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat groups
Further revisions to the budget may be made depending on Scottish Government and UK Government budget decisions in March
Councillors in Edinburgh have agreed a new business plan and budget framework to drive the Capital’s recovery from the pandemic in the coming years while tackling key priorities of eradicating poverty, cutting carbon emissions and working for a fairer, more inclusive city where every resident feels valued and empowered.
Despite the ongoing financial pressures brought about by the impact of Covid19 on Council services and communities across the city, a balanced £1 billion-plus budget has also been set for the next financial year (2021/22), with Council Tax frozen at 2020/21 levels to help protect household budgets.
In addition, rents for Council house tenants have been frozen for a year (2021/22) following a joint motion by the Conservative, Green and Liberal Democrat groups.
Financial flexibilities already agreed with the Scottish Government have contributed to the balanced budget position for 2021/22, with an acknowledgement that more fundamental service reform, improvement and prioritisation will be required in future years.
At yesterday’s annual Budget Meeting, elected members also approved a three-year Business Plan setting out how the Council would respond to the need for change, titled Our Future Council, Our Future City.
The Business Plan brings together the Council’s core priorities and seeks to shape a sustainable, fair and thriving future for Edinburgh post-pandemic.
The Business Plan and the priorities it sets shapes the four-year budget framework (2022/23 – 2025/26) also approved yesterday, which sets out the need for broader reforms to reprioritise and potentially redesign services to achieve more than £100 million of savings over the coming years.
Finance and Resources Convener Councillor Rob Munn said:When we set a three-year balanced budget in February 2020, we had no inkling of the economic and social turmoil the pandemic was about to unleash across the globe.
“As a city and as individuals, this past year has tested us like no other time in recent memory – and the challenges are ongoing. It’s testament to the dedication, commitment and resilience of all our staff, our services and our city that we’ve been able to agree a new business plan and balanced budget for 2021/22 today.
“Helping Edinburgh and our citizens to recover and rebuild after the strains of Covid19 is critical and, as they’ve done throughout, staff in Council services continue to work tirelessly to look after the city and our communities.
“Guided by our business plan priorities of ending poverty, becoming a net zero city and making sure wellbeing and equalities are enhanced for all we’ve agreed a comprehensive package of additional investments as part of our £1 billion-plus 2021/22 budget, channelling extra funding to where it’s most needed and will have the most meaningful impact.
“We want to pay tribute to the outstanding efforts of our residents in helping Edinburgh weather the Covid storm. We have seen communities come together through the hardest of times and they have shown all of what is best about our city. Without the solidarity and resilience of the people of Edinburgh, the financial, social and life cost to our Capital would have been far higher.”
Vice Finance and Resources Convener Councillor Joan Griffiths said: “Everyone’s lives have been up-ended by the Coronavirus pandemic. Jobs have been cut, businesses hit, children’s education disrupted, families separated and, tragically, many, many lives have been lost.
“It’s essential then that we do whatever we can to help our most vulnerable citizens and those who’ve been hardest hit financially, while at the same time making progress with our key ambitions towards a fairer, greener and better-connected Edinburgh.
“Make no mistake, tough times lie ahead and we’re going to have to think creatively and courageously in the years ahead to meet the substantial savings required.
“As we’ve learned during this crisis, however, difficult times can sometimes be a catalyst for lasting, positive change and we’re determined to drive forward our commitments on poverty, cutting carbon emissions and equal opportunities for everyone to access jobs, training and good places to live.
“Our three-year Business Plan responds to this need for change so that our strategies and approach achieve their ambition of making Edinburgh the best possible place to call home.”
The outcome of the Scottish Government’s Local Government Financial Settlement this year has contributed an extra £9 million* to the Council’s budget.
Investment proposals put forward by the SNP/Labour Coalition for the additional £9 million were agreed as follows:
£0.170m to freeze fees and charges of school meals, care at home services, garden aid and library reservation charges and fines;
£0.400m in 2021/22 to expand support and advice to help people at risk of homelessness and support those experiencing homelessness into secure tenancies;
£1.050m to manage crisis needs, increase funding for direct payments in light of COVID, support food security in the City, embed advice across schools and GP surgeries and expand programmes like Discover!, all to help put millions of pounds extra in the pockets of families who need it the most;
£0.500m to support our climate obligations and further decarbonisation of the Council’s estate;
£0.300m to support delivery measures for the sustainability plan which will be published in the summer;
£0.500 million to enhance our parks, playparks, food growing and urban forests, with £4m of related capital investment
£0.250m into setting up a short-term let licensing and enforcement system to move quickly in dealing with the problem;
£2.000m extra to accelerate the 1-to-1 digital strategy to help all our school pupils get the equipment they need for their studies;
£0.110m to strengthen and support our role as corporate parents by expanding the support team;
£0.175m to support expansion of Edinburgh Guarantee in light of the impact COVID has had on jobs;
£0.500m investment to take forward Smart City initiatives; and
£0.052m to extend the role of the Gaelic Development Officer for one year beyond the end of Scottish Government funding.
Further to this, £2.743m has been allocated to the Council’s unallocated reserves as a contingency against future risks.
While the city council expresses satisfaction at setting a balanced budget, there’s no getting away from the fact that Edinburgh is facing another year of swingeing cuts to service provision.
Earlier this week local government umbrella body COSLA spoke out once again about the consequnces of further cuts.
COSLA warned that communities across Scotland will face unavoidable and damaging consequences if Local Government does not receive a fair funding settlement in this year’s Budget
COSLA said that the trend of recent settlements for Local Government needs to change because on top of existing pressures, the COVID pandemic has placed unprecedented strain on the finances of Scotland’s Councils this year.
the costs of COVID-19 to Local Government and the need for these to be met,
flexibility on how the budget allocated to Councils is spent and
an increased budget allocation to address the reduction in funding to Councils over recent settlements.
Speaking as she launched the document on Tuesday, COSLA Resources Spokesperson, Councillor Gail Macgregor, said: “This year, across every community in Scotland, Local Government’s essential role has been magnified and once again we have delivered for our communities.
“Nobody in Scotland has been unaffected by this pandemic and the financial impacts of COVID-19 are severe. Individuals, families and businesses have all felt the effects and continue to look to Councils for support every day.
“Sustaining this lifeline support is placing extreme pressure on already strained budgets and without fair funding for Local Government this year, the consequences for the most vulnerable in our communities would be unacceptable.
“That is why we need fair funding for 2021/22 that respects our communities. Without this, there will be further cuts to services, reductions in spending locally, increases in the inequalities exposed by the pandemic and a much slower recovery.”
Echoing these concerns, COSLA President, Councillor Alison Evison, said: “Local Government’s role on behalf of our communities cannot be underestimated anymore. The COVID pandemic has shown exactly how much the public rely on us as leaders and as providers of vital services.
“The reality is that in recent budgets, the Scottish Government has chosen not to provide enough funding for the essential services that communities rely on day in day out.
“On top of this, this year we have had to contend with COVID-19 which has seen the inequality in our society grow.
“Our ability to recover from this and continue to deliver for Scotland’s communities depends on a change of emphasis from Scottish Government that provides fair funding for Council services.
“If we are to truly recover from this pandemic then Local Authorities must receive a fair settlement.”
Edinburgh’s council tenants will be spared a rent rise following a vote at today’s Budget meeting.
Conservative, Green and Lib Dem opposition councillors submitted an emergency motion this morning and have comfortably defeated the city’s Capital Coalition SNP – Labour administration in a key vote on the council’s Housing Revenue Account Budget Strategy.
Hailing the vote as a victory for Edinburgh’s poorest citizens during the pandemic, the Greens said the decision was ‘environmental justice’.
Housing Convener Cllr Kate Campbell responded: “Edinburgh faces huge housing challenges and this £2 million is money we can ill-afford to lose. This decision will have a detrimental impact on low-income familes.
“We are listening to our tenants and that is why we put forward this HRA report. We are doing what they asked us to do.”
