Meeting of the Parliament 13 November 2024
Presiding Officer,
“Edinburgh is at the epicentre of the housing and homelessness crisis”.—[Official Report, 23 April 2023; c 29.]
I spoke those words during my time as shadow housing spokesperson for the Conservatives. We know that support services for vulnerable groups are at breaking point, and the number of people who are experiencing homelessness in the capital is at a record level.
When John Swinney became First Minister, he stated that he wanted to be honest about where the Scottish Government was going wrong. In relation to the housing emergency, I think that we can sum that up in two words: rent controls. All parties across the Parliament have welcomed the fact that the Scottish Government has declared a housing emergency, but we must be honest—and the Scottish Government must be honest—that the bill will not solve those problems. The homelessness crisis that people in Scotland face, especially here in the capital, is only getting worse, and they are living with the consequences of decisions that have been taken by SNP and Green ministers.
The prevention duties that ministers have pointed to already exist and are being ignored, so we need to see ministers focus on the homelessness crisis now, which means fixing our broken system. Today, local authority homelessness services across the country are in systemic failure, and that is nowhere more pronounced than it is here in Edinburgh. Around 700 households in Edinburgh are currently facing the prospect of not knowing where they will be living come Christmas day, due to the council’s proposal to end the use of temporary accommodation that is not compliant with houses in multiple occupation requirements. It is an incredibly serious situation and it needs an immediate solution. I hope that—