Cole-Hamilton chairs Edinburgh Housing Summit
Following a sharp uptick in the number of constituents concerned about the state of their homes, Alex Cole-Hamilton has today chaired an Edinburgh housing summit in the Scottish Parliament to address widespread needs. Among those in attendance were Edinburgh MSPs, housing associations, charities, university student representatives, tenant associations, council officers, and the Minister for Housing.
Attendees of the summit discussed the chronic lack of affordable housing throughout the city, while further noting the pressing issue of damp and dilapidation with reports of dampness in social housing increasing in the capital by over 800% since 2019. Waiting times for social housing remain unacceptably high, and countless residents still face health issues as a result of extreme mould in their homes. Further to this, there is a £400 million discrepancy between the amount of funding Edinburgh currently gets for housing, and the amount that is needed to address the sea of unmet need across our capital.
Alex Cole-Hamilton said:
“It is clearer than ever that there is an urgent need for action on the housing crisis right here in Edinburgh. Far too many of my own constituents, many living in areas of extreme deprivation, have contacted my office seeking help in either securing housing for their families or much needed repairs for the homes they are in. In the seven years I’ve been a city MSP I have never known things to be so bad.
“We must begin to view an investment in housing not just as a step towards putting roofs over heads, but also as a wider push towards supporting the physical and mental health of our constituents and combatting poverty.
“I am very grateful for the attendance of so many elected officials and local stakeholders who helped narrow in on concrete steps we can take to fix this dire situation. I look forward to continued dialogue on the matter as well as swift action from the Minister for Housing.
“We’ve agreed to meet for a longer session in the summer to start to map possible solutions to some of these problems.