Affordable Housing for all
Demand for affordable housing within Edinburgh is continuing to increase
with housing need far outstripping supply in our fast growing city.
For the last five years, as part of the
Capital Coalition, Labour has taken the lead in Housing for the city. This has
been a challenging time with Edinburgh’s population projected to increase at a
greater rate than the Scottish average; these pressures are set to intensify. But
in spite of all these challenges, Edinburgh Labour has a proud record of
housing delivery.
With
housing costs in the private sector continuing to rise and home ownership
harder for many would-be first time buyers, there is a growing need for more
affordable housing in the city. Edinburgh Labour has led the response to this
by increasing the Council-led house building programme from 3,000 to 8,000
homes. This commitment
has been matched by our housing association partners, meaning that a total of
16,000 new affordable homes will be delivered in the city over the next 10
years. Almost 3,000 of these are already on-site and being built as I speak. This joint commitment will also generate benefits to
the local and national economy of around £4 billion, create over 3,000 jobs and
will bring in additional council tax money to help fund the delivery of
essential services for the people of Edinburgh.
The
Council has also driven forward the National Housing Trust (NHT) initiative by
committing over £100 million for eight NHT developments in Edinburgh. This will deliver over 880 affordable homes,
representing around 40% of the national programme.
As
part of Edinburgh Labour’s strategy to tackle inequality across the city, we
are going further than just building more affordable homes. Our housing service is also taking forward
ambitious plans to invest in services and improvements that will help to help
reduce the cost of living for Council tenants. This commitment recognises the
significant impact of rising housing costs on households with low to moderate
incomes. We are looking at developing innovative projects to address inequality,
including a tenant discount card, internet access for all tenants and measures
to make homes cheaper and easier to heat. We are also looking at ways to
support our tenants to take part in a wider range of training and stable
employment.
As
the housing lead, I recognise the need for new and different ways to bring
forward new housing in the city. Housing is a central part of the City Region
Deal proposals and this demonstrates our ambition to deliver at a scale that will
really make a difference, but without additional government subsidy it will be
challenging to meet all housing needs - that’s why the ‘City Region Deal’ is so
important.
We are also committed to working with tenants to
continue to improve Council housing services and keen to reach out to as many
tenants as possible; tenants have been involved in shaping the recent rent
consultation, and they carry out tenant-led inspections, and participate fully in the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) Scrutiny Group and tenant conferences.
Edinburgh Labour has led on Housing in the Council for the last
five years. We have made a great deal of progress in that time. I am confident
that, if the voters of Edinburgh put their trust in us in May 2017, we can
build on our achievements for the next five years.
Councillor
Joan Griffiths
Housing Lead, Edinburgh Council
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