Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, Cllr Tim Pogson writes about Scottish Housing Day in today's Edinburgh Evening News.
Today marks Scottish Housing Day, which this year highlights the importance of housing to our health and wellbeing. A warm, efficient and accessible home is key to safe and independent living, but also to building support networks and promoting active lifestyles.
This is top of our minds as we push forward with our ambitious plans to tackle Edinburgh’s housing emergency by increasing our housing stock, improving temporary accommodation and preventing homelessness.
People’s health and quality of life is a priority for our existing Council homes too. Our regeneration team is in the process of upgrading properties to make them warmer and more sustainable for the future by adding insulation and improving ventilation, and therefore air quality, for our tenants. In turn this work will help reduce fuel poverty by lowering the energy needed to heat homes.
Alongside this the Housing service is doing a power of work to address damp and mould throughout the estate proactively using sensors, with plans to expand the scheme further. The team is constantly looking for new products and approaches to improve how we deal with these issues.
And across our high rise retrofit programme designs focus on health and energy efficiency, particularly in terms of ventilation, better air quality and the management of moisture to prevent damp and mould. A wider fire safety programme prioritises tenants’ safety and includes the installation of sprinklers too.
Housing security is essential for people putting down roots. In recognition of this, in February we committed to a record £1.6bn billion investment in affordable homes and temporary accommodation as part of the Budget.
Progress is already being made, as shown by the latest update on our Housing Emergency Action Plan. In 2025/26 1,473 affordable homes were completed by the Council and partners - beating the target of 1,368 – while 1,144 sites were started and 866 additional suitable temporary accommodation properties purchased.
As a result of work like this, we’ve been able to bring down the number of people living in unsuitable temporary accommodation and in turn will be lifting the suspension of our allocations policy sooner than planned.
The pause on our house letting policy was put in place in April 2025 to prioritise people facing homelessness, meaning empty Council housing could be used as temporary accommodation for homeless households, reducing the use of unsuitable properties. While in force, the suspension of the allocations policy allowed more than 350 households, including 200 families, to be moved out of unsuitable temporary accommodation and directly into a settled tenancy.
Modelling now shows we’re on track to achieve our target of reducing unsuitable temporary accommodation. This demonstrates the impact of our actions.
Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg, as Edinburgh continues to face huge housing pressures. That’s why we need to think creatively when it comes to increasing our housing stock.
For example, we’re reaching out to residents with a new grant scheme providing eligible owners of empty homes with up to £20,000 to bring their properties up to a lettable standard. In return, we’re asking owners to make their properties available for Private Sector Leasing, which will boost the number of suitable temporary homes available.
We know that better housing can lead to healthy, happy residents. It’s no secret that this is a challenge, but I know that, through the efforts we’re making, we’re on the right course.