Meeting of the Parliament 19 November 2024
I, too, pay tribute to my colleague Gordon MacDonald for bringing this important issue to the chamber. It is an important thematic area of housing policy, and for Edinburgh MSPs such as me and Gordon MacDonald, it is the most significant area in which we receive casework.
Importantly, I pay tribute, too, to the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership and everyone who is involved in it. As colleagues have set out, it is an initiative that has made a difference for the many hundreds of people who are now in those empty homes. They now have a warm and secure roof over their heads—something that is fundamental in enabling anyone to succeed in fulfilling their potential. We want all the citizens whom we represent to have that.
The work of the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership is on-going—the process still has some time to run. That is why it is important that, while we mark the partnership’s success today, we look forward to seeing what more the collaboration can achieve.
I also pay tribute to Shelter for its role in that regard. The organisation, which was founded by a Scottish person, Sheila McKechnie, has gone on to make a huge difference not only in Scotland, but across the United Kingdom. The organisation is a valued partner in our parliamentary work, and it assists many hundreds of people in Scotland with a variety of housing issues.
As the motion states, the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has enabled many more properties, including here in the capital city, to be brought back into use. However, the fact that there are—or there were, when the motion was lodged—still 7,200 empty properties in the city of Edinburgh illustrates the work that still needs to be done.
I pay tribute to the Minister for Housing and to the Scottish Government for the attention that has been brought to Edinburgh’s housing emergency in the past year, and for their collaboration with the City of Edinburgh Council on converting void council houses into usable social housing again.
There has been much progress, as illustrated by recent figures released by the City of Edinburgh Council. The minister referred to those in his most recent statement to Parliament, and I am sure that he will touch on them again in summing up. It would be good to get an update on where that work is now, and to get a continued commitment from the Government to prioritise Edinburgh, where the housing crisis in urban Scotland is most acute, so that we can get many more of those council properties, and housing association and registered social landlord properties, back into use and have people occupy them.
I know from sitting face-to-face with constituents that there is nothing more frustrating for people who are in a homelessness situation than knowing that there are empty properties in the area but that they cannot move into them because they have not yet been brought back into use.
The issue applies not only to the public sector housing estate across the country, but to private housing. Good points have been made around VAT. There was an interesting debate not so long ago in which the Scottish Labour Party, and Mark Griffin in particular, committed to pushing UK colleagues to take action on VAT on repairs. We all need to see progress on that, for a variety of reasons.
The Scottish Government has used its taxation powers to try to incentivise bringing empty homes back into use. Perhaps more needs to be looked at in that regard, but the actions that have been taken are undoubtedly making a difference. It would be helpful for the minister to provide an update, if he is able to do so, on compulsory sale orders. I know that the responsibility for that sits primarily with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, but that power could make a difference, and I know that several members in the chamber would like to see compulsory sale orders introduced.
I thank Parliament for the time to discuss this important issue, and I pay tribute to my colleague and to everyone who is involved in the Scottish Empty Homes Partnership.
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