MAYBE it’s because of the ‘soundbite’ media culture that every politician requires to master, or the nature of city council committee meetings (which tend to require short, snappy interjections), but there is something strangely one-dimensional when housing is debated in Edinburgh, and more widely in Scotland.
The city’s ‘housing emergency’ - declared in November two years ago (here) - is not a figment of someone’s imagination.
When, in February last year, councillors approved a housing emergency action plan (here), the numbers they were presented with were stark.
As at February 19 last year, there were 4,957 households in temporary accommodation. “Of these, 1,329 were deemed to be in unsuitable accommodation as defined under the Unsuitable Accommodation Order.”
By April 12, come the time of a briefing (here) to the Scottish Parliament, the number 4,957 had risen to 4,969, with ‘the number of homeless presentations… [at] 3,768… in 2023/24”.
Meanwhile, the number of households putting their name down for a ‘social rent’ house - on the ‘social housing’ waiting list known as Edindex - was 24,500.
But ‘people in need’ is not the only pressure on the city’s housing stock. Three years ago, the council was expecting (here) the city’s population to grow by 58,946 to 586,566 by 2043.
That increase is going to include a sizeable number of people who don’t necessarily require ‘affordable’ housing and whose demand for housing (and ability to pay for it) will contribute towards pushing prices up.
If the Green Belt and the First of Forth combine to overheat Edinburgh’s property market, it seems rather odd to have witnessed so much low-rise housing being permitted on the city’s outer edges, such as Straiton, Cammo and Gilmerton.
Of course, it is low-rise housing that is the hallmark of the country’s volume house-builders, and they have their business models down to a fine art.
More intense use of the city’s finite amount of land would suggest apartment blocks of at least three storeys - as found in Marchmont and Bonnington - have to be the default position.
But it’s not just higher-density housing, it must also be less use of land for car parking. Car sharing doesn’t necessarily reduce the number of vehicle journeys on the city’s crumbling streets, but it does reduce the amount of space being taken up by car parking.
Plus, it can potentially save residents money. The Bruntsfield-based car club, BANZAI, estimates: “The average car costs £3,500 per year (approx £300 per month) and is parked 96 per cent of the time.”
And a smooth-functioning car club service can be deployed as a marketing tool for any new residential development. Fewer parked cars cluttering the streets can make for a more attractive place to call home.
And should that place be made even more ‘attractive’ with the inclusion of ‘community and cultural assets’ - such as cafes, performance spaces, book clubs, delis, hopefully respectful and co-operative neighbours, community food growing, work places and workers within easy walking distance of each other, GPs and a regime of care and maintenance worthy of the name - there is every chance of some properties being able to subsidise others.
No disrespect to some parts of the city, but some new-build apartments are going to be way more desirable than others, even though they will have cost broadly the same to construct.
For instance, a relatively modestly-sized 78 sqm flat in an apartment block on Hopetoun Street, near the varied attractions of Leith Walk and the St James Quarter, is being currently advertised (here) for offers over £300,000.
That’s offers over £3,846 per square metre. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, there are flats for sale at offers-over around the £2,000 per square metre mark.
Recognising, therefore, that place design potentially eclipses house design, this reality could be exploited by a progressive city council, to raise its own capital to invest in affordable housing.
Instead of having to go, cap in hand, to the Scottish Government for a subsidy (an “additional £665 million over five years” according to the above-mentioned briefing to the Scottish Parliament), a place-first approach to housing delivery could generate at least some of the much-needed cash required to make affordable housing more of a reality.
To restate: a place-first approach to housing delivery.
In Edinburgh’s case, arguably in relatively high-density housing in any satellite settlement or suburb.
But, then again, might that be too nuanced and layered a strategy (requiring an attention span), for this soundbite age?
Mike Wilson is a member of the BuildEdinburgh team
Image details: Hopetoun Street; copyright Mike Wilson
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