Almost £60m for building and buying homes in Edinburgh is expected to remain unused by the council this financial year, according to updated budget forecasts.
Figures show £14.3m earmarked for building new council homes will go unspent, along with £45m intended for buying existing properties – more than half of the annual acquisitions budget.
The projections were included in a report to the council’s risk management and best value committee, which also showed an £11m underspend in homelessness services.
SNP Cllr Kate Camp, chair of the risk management and best value committee, said the findings outline a ‘complete lack of focus’ by the administration amid a worsening housing crisis.
In November 2023, the City of Edinburgh Council declared a formal housing emergency due to severe shortages in social housing and record levels of homelessness. Early last year, data from the local authority highlighted around 5,426 households were in temporary accommodation – up from 3,570 in March 2020.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Campbell, said: ‘During a housing emergency, to fail to spend £60m allocated for homes shows a complete lack of focus on the number one issue facing the city.’
‘Given these revelations about massive underspends and failures to take basic steps, what confidence can the people of Edinburgh have that it will be used effectively by this Labour administration?’, she added.
During the council’s meeting, Campbell questioned a £10.7m underspend in temporary accommodation but, Gareth Barwell, director of place, said the saving represented good value for money.
‘Is that value for money, or is that actually a saving being made because we’ve got failures to accommodate that have gone through the roof?,’ Campbell responded.
However, Barwell said he ‘politely disagreed’, explaining the underspend was due to pressure on supply and the decision to stop using unlicensed HMOs and B&Bs, which were ruled unlawful in late 2024.
He remarked: ‘I won’t shy away from the fact we need to find a way to increase the supply of temporary accommodation so we can accommodate everybody that needs it.’
The local authority’s director of place said a draft budget for councillors would include significant investment in housing. But, finance director Richard Lloydbithell warned the crisis was likely to worsen, with around 750 more people expected to need temporary accommodation each year.
Image: Peter Cordes/UnSplash
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