Edinburgh Council’s prolonged illegal use of unlicensed accommodation was an embarrassing failure of leadership and a gift for unscrupulous landlords, writes Herald columnist John McLellan.

It was a thorough pasting, and I’m not referring to the last 20 minutes of the Scottish rugby side’s collapse against Argentina last Sunday.

Nor do I think Edinburgh Council’s “corporate leadership team,” as the senior officers are known, are too worried about any damage to their reputation after a scathing audit report into the illegal use of unlicensed accommodation for the homeless revealed a catastrophic failure of leadership in a shambolic approach to an ongoing emergency. It’s all history now, they might argue, everything is above board and, to mix sporting metaphors, there is no need for a couple of injury-time stunners to get them out of bother.

The report to this month’s Governance, Risk and Best Value (GRBV) Committee tracks back to the onset of the pandemic, when there was an urgent need to find places for approximately 3,500 households in temporary homeless accommodation across Edinburgh, and the council was forced to turn to unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). You can imagine the set-up in these places… mouldy walls, broken flat-pack furniture, badly-fitted vinyl flooring, a queue for the single loo and shower and a pile of dirty crockery in basin of greasy, cold water. And the proprietors charging the council rates which wouldn’t be out of place in a Mayfair members’ club.

Read more:........

© Herald Scotland