Edinburgh's homelessness crisis set to get worse without increase in government funding, warns council leader

Homeless numbers in Edinburgh ‘already rising’

Edinburgh's homelessness crisis is set to worsen unless funding from the Scottish Government is increased, city council leader Cammy Day has warned.

He said the number of people finding themselves homeless in the Capital was already rising and without urgent government help the situation would worsen. Councillor Day spoke out after Lothian Labour MSP Sarah Boyack highlighted figures showing 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. Only Glasgow has a higher figure with 2,825 children in temporary housing.

Edinburgh also had the longest average stay in temporary accommodation for families with children at nearly two years. Ms Boyack described the figures as "appalling" and "nothing short of a national scandal". She accused the SNP Scottish Government of a "dereliction of duty" and called for urgent action to ensure families in Edinburgh had the safe, secure housing they needed.

Council leader Cammy Day says the number of people finding themselves homeless in the city is on the rise. Picture: Ian Georgeson.

Cllr Day said Edinburgh faced extremely high demand for permanent social homes and claimed the Scottish Government’s recent decision to remove the need for any local connection before people could seek help from the council with housing would only exacerbate the problem.

He said: "We’re worryingly starting to see numbers of homeless cases rise again. Without urgent intervention from government to help us meet Edinburgh’s housing crisis, even more families will remain in temporary accommodation for even longer. In February we’ll be setting Edinburgh’s annual budget and, yet again, the government is planning to give Edinburgh one of the lowest financial settlements of any council in Scotland. We urgently need those in power at Holyrood to provide Scotland’s capital with fairer funding to help us to support our most vulnerable residents and we need this funding now.”

When it announced its 2023/24 budget on December 15, the Scottish Government claimed it increased funding for councils by £498 million, but the local authorities’ umbrella organisation Cosla said it was in fact just £71m because so much of the money was ring-fenced for government priorities. The Fraser of Allander Institute has said despite government claims of a cash increase for local government, councils will see a real-terms decrease of 4.9 per cent.

The Evening News revealed earlier this month that 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.

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