Councillors in Edinburgh voted to strip homeless households of human rights.
A Scottish housing and homelessness charity has called on Ministers and the housing regulator to intervene against City of Edinburgh Council after the local authority voted in favour of stripping homeless households of their basic rights.
At a meeting of the city’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Committee, councillors voted six to five in favour of proposals to strip people experiencing homelessness of their right to adequate housing through the provision of suitable temporary and permanent housing.
The vote follows confirmed cases of homeless households being placed in unlicensed HMO (Houses in Multiple Occupancy) properties as temporary accommodation – a criminal offence.
There are currently around 5,250 households in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh. It is estimated that over a quarter (1,488) of these households are living in properties under an Unsuitable Accommodation Order.
In a letter to Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR), the Shelter’s director Alison Watson warned that the Council’s plans are a concerted effort to undermine Scotland’s housing and homelessness rights system and that sanctions must be taken.
She states: “We cannot stand by and watch efforts to strip people of their housing rights without putting up a fight on behalf of the most disenfranchised people in our communities. Law breaking on this scale cannot be normalised.”
The call comes following the Scottish Government’s reversal of cuts to the affordable homes budget last week after pressure from housing campaigners.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland said: “It should outrage everyone in Scotland that officers and elected members within a local authority have unilaterally decided to strip people in the capital of a fundamental human right.
“Edinburgh’s homelessness crisis is partly of the Council’s own making, but instead of showing compassion and seeking to help some of the most disenfranchised people in our society, they have chosen instead to punish them in this inhumane way by taking away hard-won rights.
“Shelter Scotland has lost confidence in the leadership of the City of Edinburgh Council to do the right thing and uphold the rule of law. The leadership has systematically failed homeless people for years and is now stripping them of their rights to cover up their own failures.
“I have written to the First Minister John Swinney MSP, urging him to use his powers to call in the council’s homelessness strategy for scrutiny. It is our belief that this will highlight that the current strategy is not only unfit for purpose and cannot guarantee the rights of people at risk of homelessness but is in fact in breach of the law.
“The Scottish Government must do more to fully fund local services through the upcoming budget. However, more money won’t work if the wrong decisions are being taken locally on how to spend it.
“I have also written to the Scottish Housing Regulator as recent assurances provided by the council leadership in their annual statement clearly do not hold up to scrutiny. Elected and unelected members have shown themselves to be incapable of following the rule of law. They must reverse the committee’s decision or else immediately step aside.”
Shelter Scotland is calling for the Regulator to consider its powers to use sanctions up to and including the appointment of new management in the housing department within the City of Edinburgh Council, under its powers contained in the Housing (Scotland) 2010 Act.
Under Scottish housing legislation, Scottish Ministers have the powers to call the City of Edinburgh Council’s homelessness strategy in for review, including its provision of temporary accommodation.
The charity has said it has “lost confidence” that the City of Edinburgh Council will uphold the rule of law, calling on Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) to intervene immediately.
This is the first time the charity has called for special measures to be taken against a local authority.
If the Scottish Government and SHR decide to intervene, it will be the first time that they have exercised the powers afforded to them to protect the housing rights of people experiencing homelessness.
Alison Watson added: “Shelter Scotland has never called on the Regulator or Ministers to intervene in this way. We do not do so lightly. However, we will not stand by – and nor should the people of Scotland - and watch people’s rights be eroded without a fight.
“We cannot normalise law breaking on this scale. There must be consequences otherwise there can be no prospect that other rights will be protected, nor of the situation improving for the thousands of people in desperate need of a safe and secure home.”
City of Edinburgh Council told TFN they had requested a meeting with Shelter, adding: "The decision you are referring to was not in fact made, and therefore that the basis of your letters and press release is factually untrue."
Interim executive director of place, Gareth Barwell, said in the communication to Alison Watson: "It is our view that the representation made by Shelter to the press, the First Minister and Scottish Housing Regulator is fundamentally flawed and stands to create an impression of a fractious relationship between our two organisations, when our energy would be best served working together to tackle the housing emergency that Edinburgh, and many other Scottish local authorities, find ourselves facing.
"On this basis, we would respectfully ask you to withdraw your press release. Officers will make time to arrange a meeting to explain the decision that was taken, any future decisions that would be required if Scottish Government were willing to grant such temporary changes to legislation and the wider action we are taking to increase the supply of suitable temporary accommodation, as well as permanent accommodation for households."
