Tourist Tax offers great opportunities - Ewan Aitken


Notwithstanding the recent questions about what it will cost to implement, it will add a much-needed additional income stream to the rapidly depleting city coffers.
A number of pressures including the impact of austerity and the challenges of a post pandemic economy have put Scotland’s capital city in a very tough financial place.
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Hide AdGiven the additional strain their stay adds to our urban infrastructure, asking the tens of thousands of people who visit our fine city every year to each contribute a little to make sure Edinburgh continues to be a great place to live and to visit seems a fair thing to do.
The question is, of course, how to spend it well so that both those who visit and we who live here see the impact.
The news the council intends to use the income raised to allow for additional borrowing so they can build more houses was very welcome. As ever, however, the devil is in the detail.
It appears the council’s ambition is to use the money for what is called “affordable housing” – a phrase with variable meaning, though generally taken as 80 per cent of the market rate in the area where it is built.
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Hide AdThis means the same house built in different parts of the city will be rented at different levels of “affordability”. Worryingly I have also seen it suggested the money will be used for what is called “midmarket” rent, another often used description with a wide variety of interpretations but generally understood to be available at levels lower than private rent but higher than the council or housing association rent. “Midmarket” housing is sometimes referred to as “affordable” housing.
I understand why the council has targeted these groups, especially when many of those working in the tourism industry are at present unable to afford Edinburgh’s generally higher rents. It’s important to solve this problem and understand that this money can’t solve all our housing shortages.
But with 5000 households in temporary housing, often living with the instability and inappropriate nature of that kind of accommodation for over a year, building more social housing seems to me to be a real priority.
At the moment, because of the 37 per cent cut to the grant provided by Government for social housing, very little - if any - is being built, despite it being in huge demand.
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Hide AdHousing associations and the council at present cannot afford to borrow the difference between the grant and the cost of housing.
If the council were to supplement the grant with the money they released through the Visitor Levy, they might be able to build more social housing and reduce the numbers in temporary accommodation.
The money saved by relying less on temporary accommodation, could then be used for a wider range of housing tenures.
I know these are tough decisions, judgement calls rather than “right or wrong”. But there is an opportunity to be brave here and make Edinburgh a city where everyone feels they can flourish.
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