Edinburgh City Council suspends housing policy amid worsening homelessness crisis

The City of Edinburgh Council has immediately suspended its housing policy amidst a growing housing crisis in the capital.

The unprecedented move will see all available council-owned housing stock immediately redirected toward people experiencing homelessness until at least June 13, 2025.

It’s part of Edinburgh’s plan to get its worsening housing crisis under control, and it comes after Shelter Scotland raised concerns in 2024 over the council “not showing the desire” to tackle its legal breaches.

Shelter Scotland, a leading housing justice charity, fully welcomed the emergency action on Friday.

“The decision to suspend the normal letting policy reflects the scale of the crisis and the urgent need to protect the 3,155 children currently stuck in temporary accommodation, as well as to prevent rising levels of rough sleeping,” Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said.

“This as an emergency response taken in extraordinary circumstances, with nearly three in five homelessness presentations not being provided with temporary accommodation when required.

“The council is facing an impossible task without enough homes or resources. This situation has not emerged overnight; it is the result of decades of underinvestment in social housing and a failure to provide councils with the tools they need to fulfil their legal duties.”

However, Ms Watson warned that this emergency policy suspension, although welcome, is not a long-term solution.

“Edinburgh’s housing emergency cannot be solved by crisis measures alone,” she said.

“We urgently need the Scottish Government to do more to support City of Edinburgh Council to meet all its legal duties and to ensure everyone has a safe, secure and affordable home.”

‘Unprecedented and increasing levels of demand for housing’

Despite declaring a housing emergency in November 2023, the city is continuing to breach Scottish Government housing requirements as it struggles to cope with temporary housing demands due to increases in levels of homelessness.

The latest figures from a housing, homeless, and fair work committee report show that the council has failed to accommodate people on 3,263 occasions in the past year – a 115% rise from 2023/24.

The average number of people rough sleeping per week has also gone up. Between March 24, 2025, and March 30, 2025, it was 75 per week, up from 37 in March 2024.

The number of homeless households in Edinburgh has increased by 12% since last year as well.

As of March 31, there were 7,866 homeless households accounting for more than 14,200 individuals, including 3,980 children.

“The City of Edinburgh Council continues to face unprecedented and increasing levels of demand for housing,” Edinburgh’s housing, homelessness and fair work convener Lezley Marion Cameron said.

Councillor Cameron said the committee will discuss the continuing “funding and resource constraints, and legislative circumstances” at a special committee meeting on Friday.

“Despite the steps already taken, including the reintroduction of void homes and in homelessness prevention, ongoing and increasing pressures sadly mean that the council has been unable to provide suitable accommodation for all who have housing needs,” she added.

What does the policy suspension mean?

In an effort to control the situation, the council has immediately suspended its council house letting policy until it is fully complying with the law again.

The suggestion was approved unanimously by Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee councillors on Friday morning.

This means that all of Edinburgh’s available council-owned housing stock will now be redirected toward people experiencing homelessness.

“We will move to a system of direct allocation of properties to homeless households in unsuitable accommodation,” a spokesperson for the council explained.

The suspension will stay in place until at least June 13, 2025, but reports suggest that it should be suspended until the council is no longer breaching housing legislation.

It will apply to all Edinburgh council tenants except for those with disabilities, who have “gold priority” for housing, or for those awaiting hospital discharge.

Why is it happening?

City of Edinburgh Council emphasised that there has been an “ongoing increase” in homelessness levels in the capital since the Covid-19 pandemic, and homelessness has exceeded pre-pandemic levels.

There has been an increase in “non-preventable” homelessness, and the council said Houses in Multiple Occupancy (HMO) legislation has removed around 500 temporary accommodation spaces available to the council since last December.

“One of the consequences of that is the increase in breaches of the Housing Scotland Act 1987 by failing to accommodate those assessed or threatened with homelessness,” the council said.

“As the report stresses, the council must comply with the legislation governing the provision and quality of accommodation, and suspending the allocation policy will allow officers to focus on achieving compliance by allocating available properties appropriately to those in unsuitable accommodation.”

Who will it impact?

The policy suspension is most likely to affect people who are currently looking to move because their current home does not meet their needs, those who are looking to secure their first council tenancy and those who are homeless but not in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

“The impact on these households will be that they may have to remain in their current property for longer, or it will take longer for them to secure permanent housing,” a spokesperson for the council said.

The council said this will likely impact “each household in a different way”.