Builders pay city to keep flats free

Published on Thursday 15 January 2009 09:19

DEVELOPERS are paying to keep council homes in the city centre empty, it has been revealed today.

Campaigners have hit out after it emerged that the rent for eight council-owned flats in the Canongate is being met by Mountgrange, the developers behind the controversial Caltongate scheme.

Tenants in the eight properties have been moved out by the city council over the last 18 months and the flats have been empty since, despite the Capital's growing housing waiting list.

The flats are due to be bulldozed or partially demolished as part of the 300 million Caltongate project. However, Mountgrange is still finalising its financial package for Caltongate and it is thought work on the Canongate section of the scheme might not begin for another year.

A further nine private flats at 227-229 Canongate have been bought up by Mountgrange over the last two years, and are also lying empty.

Sally Richardson, of the Save Our Old Town campaign, said: "If there are perfectly good homes sitting there empty, the council has to explain why they are letting this happen.

"A number of the flats have been adapted for people with disabilities as well so they still have all the rails, etc. Surely someone needs a flat like this.

"It must be really galling for people who are bidding for new council flats every week, yet Mountgrange can somehow jump the queue and get this cosy wee deal."

Last month, the Evening News revealed there were more than 400,000 bids for just 2700 council homes in 2008 as the city's affordable housing crisis worsens.

Leith Links councillor, and the city's Labour party housing spokesman, Gordon Munro said: "Given that there is already a clear long-term aim to develop the area, I don't see why they can't create short-term accommodation there.

"If Mountgrange are paying the rent for these houses, then I think it would be a really good gesture for them to offer to let the council house people in these properties on a short-term basis."

A council spokeswoman said: "Some (tenants] were elderly and felt that their homes no longer met their needs, and several tenants were keen to move to better quality homes. As these homes were potentially going to be demolished it would have been irresponsible to let them to new tenants."