Those incapable of dealing with Edinburgh's housing crisis should step aside - Steve Cardownie

In a previous column when commenting on the homelessness problem which currently engulfs this city I wrote “ This is no time to be held back by unimaginative officers or be bound by political dogma which only adds to the problem other than helping alleviate it.”

Edinburgh has a critical issue with affordable housing

Since then a few matters have confirmed my worst fears- that certain councillors and officials are incapable of dealing with this issue and should step aside.

Firstly, Evening News journalist, Ian Swanson, revealed last Saturday that “Council chiefs are being urged to re-engage with an investment company over proposals for a lease deal which could provide 2,000 homes and help tackle Edinburgh’s housing crisis” going on to say that “It is understood the un-named company approached the council around 18 months ago, but has not had a positive response.”

Councillor Gavin Barrie is quoted, saying “It’s an opportunity other councils are taking up whereby private finance purchases homes and leases them to the council over a long period of time. The lease would be covered by the rents and if people were on benefits the Housing Benefit would cover lease fees. And at the end of the lease period the houses would revert to the council’s ownership.”

Secondly, this paper reported last week that “The number of homeless households is up almost 30 per cent on pre-pandemic figures, with 4,525 people across the city now living in temporary accommodation.” This was followed by the news that Scottish Government statistics show that there were 521 times when a household was not offered emergency accommodation by Edinburg Council during 2020/21.

Thirdly, Monday’s paper revealed that “Edinburgh’s proposed planning blueprint will only deliver about half the number of homes the council is suggesting, housebuilders have claimed.” Quting the industry body Homes for Scotland (HFS) as saying in its official response to the blueprint that the council’s “restrictive, inconsistent and contradictory policies” made the goal of ensuring enough homes to meet the needs of Edinburgh’s growing population “impossible to achieve.”

Indeed, Tammy Swift Adams, HFS, Director of Planning said that Edinburgh’s City Plan “appears to be based on an ideological desire not to release any further greenfield land for housing irrespective of the implications that will have.” Tellingly she goes on “It is imperative that councillors fully understand the implications of the policies and sites that are being proposed, including their impact on those in need of a new home in Edinburgh, otherwise housing inequalities in the city will continue to grow.”

It is blatantly obvious that there are not enough “brownfield sites” around for the scale of housing development required and even then many of them are currently being used productively by businesses which would have to be uprooted and accommodated elsewhere to release the site for housing. This would have serious repercussions for workforces and would cost such an inordinate amount of money as to make it financially unviable.

It’s all very well for some officials and councillors to sit in the comfort of their own homes, while not satisfactorily dealing with this extremely serious issue, but homeless families will not forgive them for letting them down in their time of need- and all for the sake of political posturing.