Edinburgh City Council to consider suspending housing policy amid worsening homelessness crisis

City of Edinburgh Council is preparing to suspend its housing policy amidst a growing housing crisis in the capital.

The unprecedented move would see all available council-owned housing stock redirected toward people experiencing homelessness.

It’s part of Edinburgh’s plan to get its worsening housing crisis under control.

Despite declaring a housing emergency in November 2023, the city is still 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 gone up as well. 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 have 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 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 need,” she added.

What are the council proposing?

In an effort to get the situation under control, the council wants to immediately suspend its council house letting policy until it is fully complying with the law again.

If approved, all of Edinburgh’s available council-owned housing stock will 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 would stay in place until the council is no longer breaching housing legislation, and it would mean around 1,000 homeless households would be moved to suitable accommodation.

It would apply for all Edinburgh council tenants except for those with a disability, with “gold priority” for housing, or for those awaiting discharge from hospital.

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”.