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Endorse our response: tourist tax for council flats

Edinburgh City Council is implementing a "visitor levy", or tourist tax, which has the ability to generate up to £50 million a year.

The unchecked growth of tourism over the past decades has exacerbated the housing crisis in Edinburgh. Developers and landlords have taken full advantage of tourism to hollow-out our homes and communities in the name of soaring profits. 

As a result, members in Edinburgh organised together to push for the council to commit money raised from the tourist tax to be spent on council housing. And we won.

The council has to committed to £5 million a year from the visitor levy to borrow a further £150m to build new council and affordable homes.

But we think this does not go far enough. 

There are 5,123 families in temporary accommodation and 23,000 people waiting for a permanent council house. New rents in the private sector in the city have increased by 18.4% over the last year, and over 80% over the last decade.

It is us who work in tourism, hospitality, administration and cleansing who work hard to generate profit for the visitor sector, but rarely does it end up in our pockets. Edinburgh is our home and we deserve affordable homes and well funded public services. 

Right now, Edinburgh City Council is consulting on the policy to get peoples views on how this money should be spent. We have written a response to this consultation and we need Edinburgh residents to sign our petition to back our call for a tourist tax for council flats before the consultation closes on December 15th. 

In order to make our responses as strong as possible we need people to tell us why you think the tourist tax should be spent on social housing. Text or email your reason to Sinead on 07593128079 or [email protected]

You can also submit an organisational or individual response on the council website by using our template here

By signing our petition you are agreeing for us to submit a response on your behalf to Edinburgh City Council's "Vistory Levy" consultation.

Endorse our response!

  • Increase the nightly tax from 5% to 8%, similar to Amsterdam and Porto. 
  • Significantly increase the spending on housing. 
  • Commit to majority of builds being social housing not mid-market rents. 
  • Commit to money being spent on other essential public infrastructure, for example permanent public toilets and cleansing.

 

500 Endorsements

488 Endorsements

Will you sign?

Endorse our response!

  • Increase the nightly tax from 5% to 8%, similar to Amsterdam and Porto. 
  • Significantly increase the spending on housing. 
  • Commit to majority of builds being social housing not mid-market rents. 
  • Commit to money being spent on other essential public infrastructure, for example permanent public toilets and cleansing.

 

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  • Sinead Dana McNulty
    published this page in Our campaigns 2024-10-30 18:00:25 +0000