Edinburgh's Housing Emergency: A Two-Year Progress Report

It's April 1st.

This is Edinburgh News today, AI-powered stories from your city.

Two years ago, Edinburgh declared a housing emergency due to sky-high demand and tight

budgets.

But since approving their latest action plan in June 2025, they've kicked things into

gear, focusing on cranking up affordable homes, cutting Tim housing use, and stopping homelessness

before it starts.

Over the past year, they've delivered real wins, more than 1,400 affordable homes finished,

1200 under construction and plans for 830 more greenlit.

Big council projects like Powder Hall's 200 plus mixed homes, Pennywell's 700 mixed

10-year spots with half affordable and 49.

New ones at Birdie House are moving fast.

Funding stepping up too, with a massive 1.6 billion pounds pledged for affordable builds

over 5 years, plus a 5 million pound fund, from the visitor levy.

A new procurement deal just launched last month, speeds up contracts, but they're still

short on Scottish government cash less than half what's needed for their full pipeline.

This week brought good news, confirmed grants for four years, with Edinburgh snagging 9.5%

of the national pot, 3% more than before.

That includes 126 million pounds for housing associations to push projects forward, plus

flexibilities to get creative.

They're eyeing 5,900 new homes in 5 years, due pilots like turning garages into bungalows

and modular builds.

With partners locked in and moments in building, sustained hustle like this could secure homes

for everyone in the city.