0:05 AM, 19th December 2024, About 3 hours ago
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In an unprecedented move, Shelter Scotland has urged Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Housing Regulator to intervene and remove the leadership of Edinburgh City Council, accusing them of “stripping homeless households of their basic rights.”
The row centres on a council meeting in December, where Shelter Scotland claims councillors voted six to five in favour of proposals “to strip people experiencing homelessness of their right to adequate housing through the provision of suitable temporary and permanent accommodation.”
Shelter Scotland protested outside Edinburgh City Council offices earlier this week, after the charity claimed the council had been acting unlawfully by using unlicensed HMO accommodation to house some homeless households, which is a criminal offence.
Edinburgh Council has hit back, calling the housing charity’s claims “factually incorrect and misleading” in a statement to Property118.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland said: “It should outrage everyone in Scotland that officers and elected members within a local authority have unilaterally decided to strip people in the capital of a fundamental human right.
“Edinburgh’s homelessness crisis is partly of the Council’s own making, but instead of showing compassion and seeking to help some of the most disenfranchised people in our society, they have chosen instead to punish them in this inhumane way by taking away hard-won rights.”
Ms Watson adds: “Shelter Scotland has lost confidence in the leadership of the City of Edinburgh Council to do the right thing and uphold the rule of law. The leadership has systematically failed homeless people for years and is now stripping them of their rights to cover up their own failures.
“I have written to the First Minister John Swinney MSP, urging him to use his powers to call in the council’s homelessness strategy for scrutiny. It is our belief that this will highlight that the current strategy is not only unfit for purpose and cannot guarantee the rights of people at risk of homelessness but is in fact in breach of the law.
“I have also written to the Scottish Housing Regulator as recent assurances provided by the council leadership in their annual statement clearly do not hold up to scrutiny. Elected and unelected members have shown themselves to be incapable of following the rule of law. They must reverse the committee’s decision or else immediately step aside.”
For the first time in its history, Shelter Scotland is urging the Scottish Housing Regulator to consider using its powers, including the appointment of new management in the housing department of the City of Edinburgh Council, under the Housing (Scotland) 2010 Act.
Under Scottish housing legislation, Scottish Ministers have the authority to review the City of Edinburgh Council’s homelessness strategy, including its provision of temporary accommodation.
Alison Watson adds: “Shelter Scotland has never called on the Regulator or Ministers to intervene in this way. We do not do so lightly. However, we will not stand by – and nor should the people of Scotland – and watch people’s rights be eroded without a fight.
“We cannot normalise law-breaking on this scale. There must be consequences otherwise there can be no prospect that other rights will be protected, nor of the situation improving for the thousands of people in desperate need of a safe and secure home.”
In the council meeting in question, the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee heard about the housing emergency in Scotland, with Edinburgh currently experiencing its highest homelessness figures since 2011-12.
According to the council, Edinburgh has the second-highest levels of homelessness in Scotland.
In an emergency motion, the Committee learned that the convener and council leader had written to the Scottish government, requesting support until 31st March 2028.
In the committee meeting, the council said: “measures are required to ensure the City of Edinburgh Council has sufficient capacity to accommodate vulnerable individuals and prevent them from facing homelessness upon arrival”.
The emergency motion emphasises this was not “rollback of rights but a short-term necessary preventative step to protect vulnerable people from homelessness in Edinburgh.”
In a statement to Property118, Councillor for Edinburgh city council, Mandy Watt, said: “We are extremely disappointed to read Shelter Scotland’s news release, which is factually incorrect and misleading, and have written to their Director and Chair to express our deep concern.
“In particular, it claims that the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee made a decision on 3 December to remove homelessness rights, which it did not.
“Shelter welcomed the introduction of our Housing Emergency Action plan, which includes extensive plans to improve our housing service and clearly sets out the challenges that we face in Edinburgh, so I’m extremely concerned to see their calls for a review into the service.
“Officers will continue to seek to work with the charity to resolve the housing emergency as soon as possible. I strongly believe we’re better served working together, whilst taking every step we can to provide a suitable, safe, and affordable place to call home for everyone who needs it.”
The council added it has written to Shelter to withdraw their claims and also sent it to Scottish Ministers.
In the letter, Gareth Barwell, Interim Executive Director of Place, said: “However, it is our view that the representation made by Shelter to the press, the First Minister and Scottish Housing Regulator is fundamentally flawed and stands to create an impression of a fractious relationship between our two organisations, when our energy would be best served working together to tackle the housing emergency that Edinburgh, and many other Scottish local authorities, find ourselves facing.”
Mr Barwell adds in the letter: “Edinburgh is not the only Council where legislative breaches are being experienced in attempting to provide homeless people with their legal rights and are also aware of the various steps the Council has and is taking to reduce the risk of non-compliance.”
Mr Barwell says the committee meeting “focused on the issue of HMO licensing and not local connection or criteria for classification of properties as suitable or unsuitable.”
