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City of Edinburgh Council to review ‘fairness’ of social housing allocation system
City of Edinburgh Council will review the “fairness” of its social housing allocation system in light of its housing emergency.
Council leaders will launch a year-long overhaul of the local authority’s points-based model, EdIndex, which determines who is prioritised for council and housing association homes.
It will focus on the “fairness” of the existing allocation policy, how assessments are undertaken and how easy the process is for people whose first language is not English.
Although the rate of allocation to homeless households had improved recently, stronger effort is required to prevent homelessness, the council said.
There are currently around 24,000 people waiting for council housing in Scotland’s capital. Meanwhile, just 2,079 homes were advertised by social landlords between April 2023 and January 2024.
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An average of 243 bids are received for each property. Waiting times vary depending on the circumstances of applicants, ranging from 27 weeks for those assigned ‘gold priority’ to up to more than 10 years for bidders with no priority.
EdIndex, the housing register used by Edinburgh Council and 17 partner housing associations and co-operatives, awards more priority points to people registered as homeless or threatened with homelessness.
It awards fewer priority points to people who live with family and not in their own home, have come out of a relationship, or are having problems with their existing property such as damp or heating issues.
In November, Edinburgh Council unanimously declared a housing emergency – the second Scottish city to do so. It was the local authority’s response to a housing shortage, increasing demand, rising rents in the private sector and a record 5,000 homeless households currently in temporary accommodation.
A plan is set to be agreed by councillors next week. This proposes reviewing “all current housing policies and strategies” to “maximise the availability of housing” and mapping the homeless support available across Edinburgh to “remove duplication”.
Other actions include: a reassessment of what criteria is used to define ‘vulnerability’ when assessing housing needs; investigating how many households are currently living in under-occupied tenancies to explore potential for freeing up larger homes; and developing a plan to reduce the number of families with children living in temporary accommodation, including targeted approach to prioritise permanent housing for those in unsuitable accommodation.
The councillors’ plan also promises to increase the accessibility of money, benefit and debt advice services to support households across the city and investigate housing co-operative models and the possibility of introducing these in Edinburgh.
Earlier this month, an Inside Housing investigation found that Edinburgh Council spent £49m on housing homeless people in temporary accommodation in 2022-23. The council’s spending on temporary accommodation has increased 193% in three years.
According to the council’s latest report, only 500 social and affordable homes a year can be built in the city over the next few years due to a gap in grant funding.
There is currently capacity for around 6,200 affordable homes to be built or approved by 2029.
In December, the Scottish government cut the budget for its Affordable Homes Supply Programme by 26% for 2024-25.
Jane Meagher, convener of the housing, homelessness and fair work committee at Edinburgh Council, said: “What we’re trying to do in the council is, as much as we possibly can within the constraints of the financial limitations we have, to resolve the housing crisis – housing emergency – however it has to be said we are limited by the funding.”
