The City of Edinburgh Council is supporting Shelter Scotland’s campaign to have the right to a decent home enshrined in Scots law. 

The campaign was launched after research conducted by YouGov for Shelter Scotland found that 88% of people surveyed agreed that everyone in Scotland should have a legal right to a safe, secure and affordable home and that 76% support a new law being created in Scotland for adequate housing for everyone in the country. The research also found that 78% support Shelter Scotland campaigning for stronger human rights in relation to housing.

Councillor Kate Campbell, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “We believe everyone should have the right to a safe, warm home that they can afford. The Council’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee agreed a motion to show support for Shelter Scotland’s ‘Are You With Us’ campaign and we invited Shelter to come and speak to us about the campaign at the City Chambers.

“There is enormous pressure on housing in Edinburgh and we’ve absolutely prioritised finding ways to alleviate that pressure.

“We’ve committed to building 20,000 affordable homes over 10 years – with over 2,000 homes currently under construction on over 35 sites across the city. Our Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan is also about getting to a place where the number of homeless presentations is equal to the number of homes available every year, and people who do become homeless can move straight into a permanent, settled home.

“We’ve launched Housing First and committed to ongoing funding, we’ve improved temporary accommodation and increased the number of flats available for families, we’ve introduced Rapid Access Accommodation to break down barriers to people who are rough sleeping so it is easier to access help and support and we’ve focussed on prevention, working in partnership with Crisis and introducing dedicated housing officers to help people stay in their own homes. Unfortunately there is always more to do, but we are committed to continuing work to prevent and end homelessness in our city.”