Capital facing housing shortfall

Edinburgh is housing more people in temporary accommodation

Edinburgh needs an additional 12,000 affordable homes over the next 10 years to cope with rising homelessness, according to the city council.

The extent of the shortfall will be highlighted at the launch of the city's new four-year homelessness strategy.

But councillors have warned that the strategy will fall short without significant investment.

They say without new homes, people in need will have to rely more on temporary accommodation.

Housing Associations in Edinburgh currently build about 500 homes each year.

Edinburgh and the South East gets so little of the share of the national investment programme for new affordable homes Councillor Paul Edie

Unless the rate of build increases, there will be a significant shortfall in the council's target of 12,000 new affordable homes in a decade.

Edinburgh's housing convenor, Councillor Paul Edie, believes the capital is being short-changed by national government.

"The council will find it difficult to meet its statutory duties to provide accommodation to all homeless people by 2012 because of the acute shortage of affordable housing," he said.

"Surprisingly, other parts of the country have a considerable surplus of affordable housing.

"It is beyond understanding that the area with the most acute shortage, Edinburgh and the South East, gets so little of the share of the national investment programme for new affordable homes."

'Empty properties'

Councillor Edie said more people had presented themselves as homeless in the past three years than the council had houses to let.

"Over the last two years we have plugged the gap through leasing over 1,000 empty properties from private property owners for temporary accommodation," he said.

"Unless more new affordable homes are built in the city, more homeless people will spend longer periods of time in temporary accommodation."

The new strategy sets out the vision, aims and outcomes the council and its partners want to achieve by 2012.