Homeless charities hail evictions slump

Published on Thursday 26 August 2010 18:29

HOMELESS campaigners today hailed a drop in the number of council tenants being evicted in Edinburgh despite the recession.

Charity Shelter Scotland praised the city council after official figures revealed evictions had been cut by almost a third last year, from 263 to 180.

They warned there was no room for complacency and called for action by the Scottish Government to prevent a fresh wave of evictions as people find themselves struggling to make ends meet.

Shelter is pressing for new legal requirements to ensure councils and housing associations take every possible step to avoid tenants being kicked out of their homes.

It says responses to a government consultation show 78 per cent backing for legally enforceable "pre-action requirements" to protect tenants from eviction at a time when rising unemployment could lead to a rise in homelessness.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: "It is good news that evictions have reduced in Edinburgh but, across Scotland, there are still 1262 people being evicted.

"Many councils like Edinburgh have made major improvements, but we cannot afford to be complacent.

"To prevent a second wave of evictions, it is essential the Scottish Government heeds to overwhelming support for the introduction of legal requirements which will make eviction a truly last resort."

The vast majority of evictions relate to rent arrears, with only four per cent of the total for antisocial behaviour.

Edinburgh's eviction figure of 180 in 2009-10 was the lowest for a decade. In 2001-02, the number of people losing their homes through eviction or abandonment - where people move out because they are about to be evicted - was as high as 529.

City housing leader Councillor Paul Edie welcomed the figures and said the reduction was due, at least in part, to the council's strategy of early intervention and prevention.

He said: "We're getting in there before people are at risk of homelessness. It's in everyone's interests to try and keep people in the homes they are in."

Cllr Edie said the council sought to make sure people had access to welfare advice before their situation became too difficult and said he hoped the eviction figures would continue to fall.

He said: "We will do everything we can to try and help people with advice and support and hopefully we will continue to improve on this."