CITY of Edinburgh Council has come under fire for recategorising recently upgraded Bed and Break-fasts (B&Bs) used as homeless accommodation in official Scotland-wide homeless figures, released last week.

All local authorities are under increased pressure to reduce reliance on often rundown B&B accommodation, which is judged unsuitable for people’s needs. Under current Scottish legislation, families should be placed there only in emergencies for a maximum of seven days.

In May 2021, following recommendations from the Homeless and Rough Sleepers Advisory Group (HARSAG), the Scottish Government will update this to make it illegal for any homeless person to spend more than seven days in B&B accommodation.

But as part of its aim to reduce numbers, Edinburgh City Council has added shared cooking facilities and washing machines to existing homeless B&Bs and relabelled them as “shared housing”.

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Last week’s figures show that a record number of 11,432 households were in temporary homeless accommodation as of September 30, 2019, an increase of 4% on last year. Scottish councils also failed to offer temporary accommodation to homeless people 10,840 times since January 2017, which Shelter Scotland showed they were being “failed on an industrial scale”.

Quarterly breakdowns since 2017 show an average of 1100 were housed in B&Bs until June 2019 when the number fell dramatically to 649, rising to 710 by the end of September. But a note clarifies the change was due to the recategorisation of some B&Bs by Edinburgh City Council as “other”, with a corresponding increase in those figures.

Edinburgh City Council confirmed that the change affected about 450 bed spaces in 25 existing homeless B&Bs which have had shared

cooking and washing facilities added. The plans were approved by the Scottish Government.

The upgraded B&Bs are judged “unsuitable” for families under current legislation, though Edinburgh council claimed the status of the accommodation after the new rules kick in next May is still unclear.

Pauline McNeill (below left), Labour MSP and spokeswoman on housing, accused the council of trying to obscure the issue. She said: “I appreciate that Edinburgh City Council is fully aware they have a housing problem with temporary accommodation. But this seems like an attempt to hide the real numbers which don’t appear to be coming down by recategorising accommodation.

“I don’t see the point in trying to hide the true extent of the problem. There does need to be transparency on how bad it is so that we can tell if there are actual improvements.”

Meanwhile, Susan Rae, Greens councillor for Leith Walk ward, claimed upgrading B&Bs did not address the key issue. “While any improvement in facilities is always a good thing, what homeless people really need is homes,” said the councillor, who had personal experience of homelessness more than a decade ago. Switching from one kind of temporary accommodation to another unfortunately does not get away from the reality that the accommodation is still temporary, with all the upheaval, uncertainty, extra cost and extreme stress that homelessness brings. So, is it a real change or just a change in the figures?” she asked.

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Campaigners claimed the city is still in the grip of a housing crisis, with single people often spending many months in B&Bs and families having to wait for lawyers’ appointments after the council failed to move them after seven days. In 2018 the council was criticised for paying almost £200 million to private homeless accommodation providers over a five-year period.

Danielle Leadbetter, of Low Income Families Together (LIFT) in Edinburgh’s Muirhouse, said she was concerned that separating the figures would take an important focus away from the issue. “We know of some properties with shared kitchens but you can’t always access them,” she said. “You have to wait for your slot to use the washing machine. It’s not good enough.

“The city needs to address the shortage of accommodation. We are supporting one mum who has been in a temporary two-bed flat with her four kids for two years and three months now. I know in some ways the council’s hands are tied but it’s a nightmare for people. We are seeing the impact on people’s mental health and it’s outrageous.”

However Councillor Kate Campbell (below), Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work convener, defended the decision, explaining that after adding shared kitchens and washing machines to existing homeless B&Bs the council now regards these as “shared housing”.

“This is not a long-term solution but residents have told us that having access to better facilities has made a difference,” she said. “We still don’t think shared housing is suitable for families and we’re doing everything we can to make sure we have enough flats available for households that need them.”

Taking families out of B&B accommodation “is the number one priority”, she added. We’ve done this by increasing the number of temporary flats available to families. And we’ve just passed a report which makes a huge investment into the Private Sector Leasing Scheme, which has been run by Link Housing Association.

“This will make even more temporary flats available so that families can stay in those flats until they get a permanent home. This means better-quality temporary accommodation and less disruption for families and households affected by homelessness. There is no question that we need to embrace lots of different, innovative solutions and that’s precisely what we’ve been delivering.”

The council is also piloting shared tenancies “exploring how people experiencing homelessness can be supported while renting a room in a private house”.

Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “We have invested £32.5m to prioritise permanent, settled accommodation as we work to transform temporary accommodation.

“In the meantime, these upgrades are improving temporary accommodation and living conditions now. We are working in partnership with local authorities to help them overcome any barriers they face in achieving full compliance with legislation to extend the Unsuitable Accommodation order to all homeless households by May 2021.

“That includes devolving the power to regulate short-term lets, the promotion of shared tenancy arrangements and considering other types of suitable temporary accommodation as an option for homeless households while they await their settled accommodation.”