Since returning to the City of Edinburgh Council in May, I have learned much about the various housing related challenges we face in Edinburgh and in this guest blog, I would like to set out how the recently elected Council is planning to address those.

First and foremost, we want our tenants to have a high quality of life and to live in great places.  To make that happen the most important thing we can do is to listen to what our tenants say to us.

We understand that many people struggle to make ends meet and to access the support they need.  We know the cost of living has increased whilst incomes have fallen. We know that getting access to services and benefits can be very difficult for many of you. And our tenants are often among the hardest hit by all the changes over the last few years.  That is why we plan to build many more affordable homes for you and your families.  That is why we intend to invest more to improve your homes and the communities.  And that is why we are making changes to the way Edinburgh’s housing service works with you.

But our plans are not just about building more and better homes.  We shall work with tenants to help them have access to good quality and more secure jobs, if they can work.   We are also committed to making sure that everything we do seeks to reduce your cost of living.  This year we shall be recruiting more apprentices than ever before and our aim is to ensure that many of these jobs go to tenants and the children of our tenants.  We shall be talking to our contractors to explore how they can provide more jobs and training opportunities for you.

We shall be investing more to insulate your homes and install modern efficient heating systems. We shall be employing energy advisers to help you reduce the cost of heating your home.  We have also received a lot of interest from tenants in using land in and around your homes for community gardens and food growing initiatives and we would like to encourage more of this type of tenant initiative.

Finally, we want to make sure that every tenant has a chance to shape the way we look after your homes and neighbourhoods.  To this end, we have set up the citywide Tenants Panel, and we now also have 100 Council officers, each looking after around 200 tenants’ homes.  If you want to find out more about the Tenants Panel email tenant.panel@edinburgh.gov.uk, call 0131 529 7545 or speak to your housing officer. If you’re not sure who your housing officer is speak to your local Council office they can help.

Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron, Vice Convener for Housing and the Economy, Labour Councillor for Liberton Gilmerton Ward