Edinburgh's council housing freeze extended until March next year as latest homeless figures revealed

Edinburgh’s freeze on council house allocations will be extended to March 2027, as it has been revealed 646 homeless people and households couldn’t be housed in December.

The decision by councillors means no council houses will be advertised on EdIndex until then – though it is possible the freeze could be extended even further in future.

A bid by the SNP to only extend the suspension to May 2026 failed, with the position to extend to 2027 winning out by eight votes to three.

The freeze began in April 2025, in order to help cope with Edinburgh’s housing crisis and contribute to ending the city’s use of unlicensed HMOs, which was in breach of the law

Council officers say the extension is needed in order to keep spaces available for people presenting to the council as homeless.

At Tuesday’s housing committee meeting, they pointed to data which shows the need for temporary housing has increased since April due to more people presenting as homeless.

In a report to councillors at that meeting, officers wrote that 646 requests for temporary accommodation – some 59% – could not be met by the council in December.

But SNP councillors say this shows the freeze is failing to meet the needs of city residents.

The number of households being put up in ‘unsuitable accommodation’ – including HMOs and bed and breakfasts – has not decreased significantly so far during the freeze.

In February of last year, 1,064 households were in unsuitable accommodation, versus 985 in December, a drop of only 80.

Under the SNP’s proposed plan, the suspension until May of this year would have been used by officers to develop a new strategy to deal with the situation the council faces.

Council officers are currently working on a longer-term review of the council house allocation policy, which is set to come into effect no later than March 2027.

The freeze could theoretically be ended earlier if the review generates a plan before then.

Council officers are trying to take steps where possible to better use the council housing stock it has now.

This includes trying to encourage council tenants in flats too large for them to transfer into smaller units, offering incentives around buying new furnishings.

The council faces difficulty procuring and setting up additional accommodation due to a range of issues, including a shortage of properties to buy.

At a risk management committee meeting last month, it was revealed that the city failed to spend £60m meant for buying and building housing.

Glasgow’s housing convener criticised Edinburgh for the underspend, saying his city would ‘happily’ take up the funding to address that city’s housing crisis.

Officers at that meeting said the underspend, consisting of about £45m for buying housing and £15m for building it, was due to a range of factors.

These included a shortage of available units to buy, slippage in project timelines and a need to get good value for money for the city.

Edinburgh’s housing convener, Labour councillor Mandy Watt, said the money would still be spent next year.

And during the meeting, a top council boss said the city was doing everything in its power to address the crisis.

A draft budget put together by officers suggests spending more than £580m over the next five years to bring in around 2,500 more temporary accommodation spaces.

Councillors will vote on budget proposals at a meeting later this month, with each group set to propose alternative budgets to the ones crafted by officers.

By March 2027, the council housing freeze will have been running for nearly two years, with council house grants to non-homeless households only happening in rare circumstances.

In the report, officers also described high pressures being placed on the council’s housing and homelessness service teams, and some steps being taken to try and deal with it.

Turnover of staff is high, with the report stating that the workload and difficulty of dealing with members of the public who cannot be accommodated is ‘difficult to manage’ for many.

Violence and abuse towards frontline staff working in locality offices has been an issue amid the freeze and the shortage of temporary accommodation.

The report states that staff have now been given wearable alarms they can use to call for help if needed.

Additionally, security plans in housing offices are under review, including work to make sure CCTV cameras are working effectively and ensuring security officers are consistently present.