one couple were living in a tent outside the local authority\u2019s plush base<\/a> in the centre of Edinburgh last winter amid Scotland\u2019s ongoing housing emergency.<\/p>\nMore and more homeless people are sleeping outside of the council hubCredit: Andrew Barr<\/p>\n
Council chiefs have admitted they are powerless to move them onCredit: Dave Johnston \u2013 Commissioned by The Sun<\/p>\n
But the number of tents has now multiplied amid increasing numbers of people living rough on the streets.<\/p>\n
And the council has admitted it has \u201cno legal basis\u201d to move people on.<\/p>\n
One woman who has been sleeping in one of the five tents pitched underneath an overhang at the hub said: \u201cIt\u2019s dryer and warmer. You have a bit more privacy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are in stairwells and shop doorways, people phone the police. They can\u2019t move you on from here because they are responsible for housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are struggling to remain at the same place. <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are sleeping rough in alleyways and graveyards.\u201d<\/p>\n
But she said despite being outside the \u00a380million hub they were still cruelly targeted. <\/p>\n
She said: \u201cWe get stuff stolen from the tents all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that charities offering support have been handing out sleeping bags and tents to those facing a festive season in the open.<\/p>\n
Last night Scottish Labour Housing spokesperson Mark Griffin said: \u201cThese heartbreaking scenes lay bare the human cost of Scotland\u2019s housing emergency.<\/p>\n
\u201cRough sleeping across Scotland is at its highest point in 14 years but the SNP has no answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe urgently need to boost housebuilding in Scotland and deliver fair funding for local government so we can give Scots the safe, secure homes they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sean Clerkin of the Scottish Tenants Organisation \u2013 who has seen the tents outside the Edinburgh HQ \u2013 said: \u201cIt\u2019s like a homeless camp. The housing emergency has turned into a housing disaster. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who are in charge of it don\u2019t know what to do because there is a massive disconnect between those in authority and those at the bottom end of society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\tScotland’s homelessness statistics\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTHE latest Homelessness Statistics for Scotland report revealed the total rose from 1,932 in 2023-24 to 2,465 in 2024-25.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
This is a 28 per cent increase.<\/p>\n
The Scottish Government previously pledged to build 110,000 affordable homes by 2032, with 70% of these to be for social rent.<\/p>\n
But recent figures showed 31,064 of these affordable homes had been built up to the end of September, with new starts and approvals in decline.<\/p>\n
At First Minister\u2019s questions on Thursday, Labour leader Anas Sarwar warned more than 10,000 children across Scotland would be spending Christmas without a permanent home of their own.<\/p>\n
He pointed to figures that show a record 17,000 households are currently registered as homeless.<\/p>\n
He said one family in Glasgow has spent 13 years in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n
An Edinburgh City Council spokesperson said: \u201cWe don\u2019t have a legal basis to move people on, but our approach is to provide support and relationship building through our street-based outreach teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener Tim Pogson added: \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned about anyone who is rough sleeping, particularly during the cold winter months.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur street-based outreach teams regularly engage with rough sleepers, including those outside Waverly Court, to provide support and advice around housing and welfare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are often highly complex situations, but our teams will always seek to engage with individuals and work to find solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anas Sarwar warned more than 10,000 Scots kids would be spending Christmas without a homeCredit: Getty<\/p>\n
Rows of rough sleepers can be seen outside of the plush HQCredit: Michael Schofield<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COUNCIL chiefs are powerless to move on surging numbers of homeless people camped in tents outside its multi-million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":703071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,487,1102,4884,1268,897,712,213,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-703070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-cost-of-living","10":"tag-edinburgh","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-homes","13":"tag-jobs","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-sun-club","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115913011029909830","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}