At a special meeting on Tuesday 12 November, councillors heard that officers are doing all that they can to address the challenges in East Lothian’s housing system.

This includes delivering an action plan in response to housing and homelessness pressures that is showing positive results, but there is now an increasing risk that these positive trends will begin to reverse as the council struggles to deliver new, affordable housing due to the reduction in investment by the Scottish Government for new build completions.

Councillor Andy Forrest, East Lothian Council spokesperson for housing, said: “The serious impact of this reduction in investment cannot be underestimated given the current and growing housing pressures in East Lothian and in the context of a National Housing Emergency. The reason we are declaring this Affordable Housing Emergency now is that we are at imminent risk of losing affordable units on sites where housing is currently being built or where work is about to start, including sites in Musselburgh and Haddington. But there are sites all over East Lothian where we could potentially lose the affordable housing component that is so urgently needed.

“The reality is that, if the current situation continues, this council will struggle to deliver on both national and local policies in relation affordable housing supply targets and our legal obligations in relation to homelessness and the use of unsuitable accommodation.”

East Lothian Council currently manages 9,353 properties and has 4,709 applicants on the housing list. Average turnover of stock is usually around 500 properties per year, however during 2023/24, a total of 664 properties were allocated, of which 209 were new build – which has contributed towards mitigating some of the pressures.

The Scottish Government has confirmed East Lothian’s resource allocation for preparing its Strategic Housing Investment Plan (SHIP) for 2025-2030 as £37 million, averaging just over £7m per year – in comparison to an average of £12m per year for the previous five years.

Last year, East Lothian achieved 452 completions through the affordable housing supply programme. In comparison, we will deliver an estimated 340 units over the next five years. If investment were available to deliver all of the projects set out in the SHIP, a total of 1,566 units could complete over the next five years. Based on the actual allocation received, there is a very high risk that we could lose 1,226 units of affordable housing.

Councillor Forrest added: “East Lothian urgently needs an increase in new affordable housing supply if we are to meet the growing demand. We are uniquely paced in terms of new growth with the number of sites ready to deliver affordable housing, however as a result of the drastically reduced funding, we are likely to lose these potential new units.”

The councillors agreed to write to both the UK and Scottish governments to seek additional funding support as part of the UK Government’s budget announcement on 30 October 2024 and to require an urgent response to ensure East Lothian does not lose affordable housing opportunities available to the council via Section 75 agreements with developers of new housing.

East Lothian Council is now the 13th local authority to declare a housing emergency in various forms including Aberdeen, Angus, Argyll and Bute, the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries & Galloway, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Fife, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.