Fact check: Are homeless people in Edinburgh being thrown out to make way for Taylor Swift fans?…
Shelter Scotland says some of the homeless people it supports in Edinburgh have been moved out to Glasgow, Aberdeen and even Newcastle to free up hotel rooms for Taylor Swift fans.
But Edinburgh City Council says it is “absolutely not” moving tenants out of temporary accommodation to make way for Swifties.
So what exactly is going on here?
The facts
We know Edinburgh is in the grip of a housing crisis.
The council declared a housing emergency in November last year, and around 5,000 families go without a home to call their own every single night in the Scottish capital.
Edinburgh City Council has a legal obligation to offer emergency temporary accommodation to homeless people, and often this takes the form of hotel rooms. This emergency accommodation tends to be for a seven-day period and the council books it a week at a time.
Swift is playing at Murrayfield Stadium from June 7 to 9, and almost 200,000 fans have tickets for the coveted gig - with fans needing somewhere to stay.
This means when next week rolls around and the council needs to book hotel rooms to use as emergency accommodation for homeless people, they can’t - those rooms are already booked up.
What does Shelter Scotland say?
Shelter Scotland says this sort of scenario regularly happens during the Edinburgh Fringe, the Six Nations and during the Christmas and Hogmanay festivities, which pits homeless people against tourists in the fight for accommodation.
Gordon MacRae, assistant director at Shelter Scotland, said there were families they were working with who were having to go elsewhere next week.
“Those who come to us because they require emergency accommodation are usually put in a hotel for seven days, but now they’re being told to think about going to Newcastle or Aberdeen if they want a roof over their heads,” he told the BBC.
“That often means having to decide to give up their job or take children out of school. It is important to remember most homeless people only need a house, they don’t have multiple support needs.”
Mr MacRae said the council was then unable to book hotel rooms for homeless people because “there is someone prepared to pay more for it than the council can afford”.
What does Edinburgh City Council say?
The council has told The Scotsman it is “absolutely not” moving tenants out of temporary accommodation to make way for Swifties - the problem is they can’t get anything booked themselves because the hotels are already full.
Councillor Jane Meagher, Edinburgh’s housing and homelessness convener, said: “It is a symptom of the housing emergency we face in Edinburgh that at times we must use tourist accommodation to house homeless households.
“We know it won’t be available year-round, particularly over the busy summer months, so we use it reluctantly as a last resort. We’re aware of the situation and are working with the affected households to find appropriate, alternative accommodation.”
A council spokeswoman also confirmed that when they cannot find any hotel rooms, they need to move those families elsewhere. The spokeswoman said one household was sent to England for a week in the past year.
They also confirmed the council books this type of accommodation one week at a time, but it is tricky if there is a big event on and the hotels are already fully booked.
Who is to blame?
Shelter Scotland is placing the blame squarely at the door of the Scottish Government.
In its 2024/25 budget, the Government cut £200 million from the affordable housing budget, although found a bit of extra money at the last minute to bring this figure down slightly.
https://www.scotsman.com/