Every council must declare a housing emergency

ALL Scottish councils are coming under pressure to declare a housing emergency after City of Edinburgh Council emphatically backed a call to tackle the crisis.

-  MARK McGIVERN

Councillors voted to set up a Housing Emergency Action Plan to urgently get existing properties up to scratch for homeless families and seek to buy up more from the private sector.

Council leader Cammy Day will now seek a meeting with First Minister Humza Yousaf, demanding more cash to meet the huge demand in the capital.

Shelter Scotland has driven the emergency calls and the Record this week laid down the charity's blueprint for a redrawing of housing provisions, which it claims are failing catastrophically.