Edinburgh housing emergency: Real progress will be getting homelessness under 1,000, city housing chief tells MSPs

Derek McGowan said there were currently 5,200 homeless households in Edinburgh, which a year ago became the first place in Scotland to declare a housing emergency.

There are currently 5,200 homeless households in Edinburgh

Giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament's local government committee , he said the unanimous decision was based on the level of homelessness, the number of children in temporary accommodation, the difficulty in bringing that down and te shortage of housing available.

He said average rents in Edinburgh were £400 a month higher than in the rest of the country for a three-bedroom home; average house prices were 93 per cent above the national average; and the cost of building the number of affordable houses needed in the city was £693m more than was available.

Mr McGowan said progress was being made and cited a reduction in the number of empty or "void" council homes.

"We've managed over the last year or so to bring just over 500 of our void properties back into use, so that's really positive - positive for the people getting those homes, also positive for rental income that can then be reinvested in the quality of the stock we have."

But when committee chair, Green MSP Ariane Burgess asked him when the emergency would be over, he made clear there was a lot more still to do.

Mr McGowan said: "We have 5,200 homeless households in the city. If we were to bring all our voids back in that would only bring 1,500 homes back into use and there's still 3,500 or so there, so we are well into four figures on homelessness.

"I think when homelessness is in three figures - ie below 1,000 - I think that's when we'll be saying we're really making a difference here - and that's about poverty, the hardship people face, the accessibility of housing."

Earlier, Chris Birt, associate director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, told the committee the upcoming Scottish Budget on December 4 would be a litmus test of the Scottish Government's response to the country's housing crisis.

He said: "It hasn't felt like an emergency response so far.  In an emergency situation we would expect to see significant prioritisation of funding for the area which under an emergency state and I don't think we've really seen that yet.

"But the Chancellor's Budget last week appears to have given the Scottish Government additional capital funding.  So I think the real litmus test from the Scottish Government's point of view will be that budget in a few weeks' time."