Edinburgh homelessness: Shelter says situation 'bleak' as homeless children in Edinburgh up by 900 per cent

The charity warned that housing in Edinburgh is “bleak” and has got worse in the past twelve months.

Homelessness and lack of housing in Edinburgh is ‘bleak’ homelessness charity Shelter has warned, as figures show 5,000 are forced to live in temporary accommodation.

In a new report looking at how the housing and homelessness situation has changed in the Capital over the last year, the charity says the snapshot shows the ‘bleak’ failures of the city council and demanded urgent action.

The report card found the council is dealing with more open homeless applications than last year; more households have become homeless, while the number of children and households stuck in temporary accommodation has also increased. The average length of time people are forced to spend in temporary accommodation is up to two years. It also found the council is well below target on building new social homes, with only 10 per cent delivered.

Homelessness in Edinburgh has risen, new data shows, at Shelter called the situation 'bleak' (Photo: Phil Wilkinson)

Director, Alison Watson, said: “The equivalent of 39 children in Scotland become homeless every single day, that’s a classroom full of children. The picture in Edinburgh is bleak. In the last year more households have become homeless, more kids have nowhere to call home and people are spending longer in temporary accommodation. In Edinburgh, a couple with children can expect to spend almost two years in temporary accommodation.

“Open homelessness applications have also increased, putting the council’s homelessness services under incredible pressure. We know that the only way to permanently address these issues is by delivering more social homes but, sadly, Edinburgh is falling well short of the necessary pace. Unless that changes, quickly, the situation will only get worse. City of Edinburgh councillors have a vital role to play in delivering social homes and ending the housing emergency, so we’ll continue to hold them to account.

“However, we’re also clear that they can’t do it on their own; the Scottish Government needs to recognise the housing emergency is real, that it’s devastating communities, and commit to taking urgent, targeted action. That means ensuring that local homelessness services have the resources they need to do their job properly and making sure the funds are there to deliver the social homes we so desperately need.”

It comes after the Evening News revealed the homelessness problem in Edinburgh was so bad and the pressure on homes so big that people were being sent to hotels and other temporary accommodations outside the city, some as far away as Inverness, more than 150 miles from Edinburgh.

The latest figures show homelessness is rising in Edinburgh (Table: Shelter)

Latest figures show a total of 2,265 children were living in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh– up 20 per cent on last year and an increase of 930 per cent since 2002. Families with children at nearly two years. The council needs to deliver 1,111 social homes per year to meet its targets laid out in its Strategic Housing Investment Plan. However, between April and December 2022 only 185 were completed. They are not on track to meet this yearly target.

Councillor Jane Meagher, housing, homelessness and fair work convener, said: “I welcome Shelter’s work on this and share their concerns. We are all extremely concerned about the impact this homelessness crisis is having on our citiy and, most importantly, on the 5,000 households who will spend tonight in temporary accommodation because they are homeless. This is something that – together with Shelter, the voluntary sector and registered social landlords – I’ve been working really hard on over the past 12 months and I’m very glad that Shelter are joining us in sending out this powerful message.

“But, as Shelter point out, we can only do so much with the limited resources we have and ultimately the only solution lies with the Scottish Government providing fair and proper funding so that we can narrow the widening gap between demand and supply of much-needed affordable and social housing in our growing city. I’m afraid this currently stands in the hundreds of millions of pounds and so I would ask the Scottish Government to put its money where its mouth is and help us find a sustainable solution to this crisis.”