7. I draw members’ attention to my entry in the register of members’ interests.

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met with the City of Edinburgh Council to discuss its housing emergency declaration. (S6O-02988)

The

Scottish Government regularly engages with the City of Edinburgh Council concerning our shared efforts to end homelessness and reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation. On 7 December, I met the convener of the housing, homelessness and fair work committee, Councillor Meagher, to consider housing supply matters. On 21 December, I discussed budgetary matters, including housing, with the leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, Cammy Day. Just yesterday, I met the Scottish Cities Alliance to discuss housing, and that meeting included officers and council leader Cammy Day.

Continuous dialogue between officials is facilitated through forums such as the City of Edinburgh Council’s homelessness task force, which last met on 13 December. Scottish Government officials and their City of Edinburgh Council counterparts will next meet on 23 January.

I welcome the minister’s engagement, which is much appreciated, but it is not just the City of Edinburgh Council that has declared a housing emergency—other councils are doing it now. Last week, 781 people applied for a single council house in Dreghorn. The housing emergency is a “now” issue. What action will the Scottish Government take imminently to tackle our housing emergency, whether by bringing empty homes back into use or by getting moving on building both housing to meet general needs and social rented accommodation?

On the specific issues, Sarah Boyack will be aware of the announcement of £60 million of acquisition funding. We are discussing various sites with the City of Edinburgh Council and we are talking about allocation policies. Sarah Boyack will be aware that we have also attended a number of round-table events in Edinburgh at which the particular issue of empty homes has been raised. We are working with the council with regard to empty homes and a few other things. There are a few strategic sites, such as at Granton in the west of Edinburgh, that we are working with the council to develop as quickly as possible.

I, too, thank the minister for his committed engagement on the housing emergency in Edinburgh and for his appreciation of the financial constraints, which are real. The situation in Edinburgh is becoming more and more serious, and it is more acute than the situations elsewhere in the country. In this new year of 2024, as well as the official engagement, can we expect action from the Scottish Government and the City of Edinburgh Council, working together, to tackle the emergency?

I thank the member for his question.

As I said, we are engaging with the City of Edinburgh Council on a regular basis on the issues that I mentioned, such as strategic sites that are coming forward and the acquisition policies. When I met the Scottish Cities Alliance yesterday, we looked at innovative methods of financing that the City of Edinburgh Council has used before, such as the growth accelerator model and tax increment financing. We are engaging with the council on the issue, and we will continue to engage with it on bringing housing forward as soon as we possibly can.

We need to find solutions, and part of that is about looking at our land supply issues in the capital. Will the Scottish Government agree to audit all public land—not just council land and Scottish Government agency land, but national health service land as well—to see what development sites might be available to help to significantly reduce the cost of affordable housing development? We know that many sites across the Edinburgh area will not necessarily be developed as part of the local plan. I hope that the opportunity to undertake a proper audit will be taken up and that that is a positive suggestion.

I thank the member for his question. We are touching on planning issues, but, with regard to the availability of land such as NHS land, I have already engaged with Paul Lawrence and Cammy Day, from the the the City of Edinburgh Council, to discuss that. I am awaiting some evidence from them about land that is available and how we can work to bring it forward, which may include land that is not in the local development process. We are engaging with the council on that issue.

In

November last year, the city of Glasgow, too, declared a housing emergency. I understand from my colleagues at Glasgow City Council that our city has about 1,500 fewer homes than it needs in order to meet demand. I know that the housing minister meets council representatives regularly, but what work is going on to address Glasgow’s specific needs, including the challenges that have been set by the Home Office’s fast-tracking of asylum claims?

I met Glasgow City Council to consider the city’s housing supply challenges on 12 December, and I will meet it again on 23 January.

In October, the Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees wrote to the United Kingdom Government to request funding to support local authorities to manage asylum pressure. However, no additional support was forthcoming. That is deeply disappointing, and ministers continue, alongside our Welsh Government colleagues, to press the matter. Clearly, the Home Office’s approach is pushing people into destitution, and the impact of that on Glasgow—Scotland’s largest dispersal area—is particularly acute. We will again call on the UK Government to recognise the devastating impact of its approach on local authorities, communities and asylum seekers.