Edinburgh and East Lothian may face lawsuits for missing executive’s 14-day deadline

Scottish councils could be hit by a flurry of lawsuits from homeless families after admitting they may fail to meet the Scottish Executive’s regulations for restricting the use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

Rules that came into effect last Monday stipulate that homeless families can only be kept in B&Bs for up to 14 days. Councils were notified of the new rule in October.

Several local authorities have said they will struggle to meet the deadline.

Edinburgh council has about 100 households in B&B accommodation, of which 20 are families. It said it would find it difficult to meet the target, and could face court action.

Mark Turley, director of housing at the local authority, said: “Families that are in B&Bs for more than 14 days would be able to challenge the council.”

He added that the Scotland-wide deadline had not been backed by the homelessness taskforce, which was set up to review the causes and nature of homelessness in Scotland. The taskforce, which reported in 2002, had called for staggered deadlines for different councils.

East Lothian council said it could also face legal action from homeless families. It has 31 homeless families and is currently looking to buy more housing to meet the demand.

East Lothian councillor Willie Innes said the executive had put the council in an “impossible position”. He said: “If we were to comply, every allocation we made would have to go to people in priority need. Elderly people and people with disabilities who have already waited a long time will now have to wait longer.”

Legal challenges were “a possibility”, he added. He said the council could house homeless people more cheaply if it were given time to build homes.

The Convention for Scottish Local Authorities said the rule undermined “genuine efforts of local homelessness officers”.

Its president Pat Watters added: “The hasty implementation of this order will do no more to reduce the number of families in B&Bs than councils would achieve without a statute.”

Source

Housing Today