The cost of rental accommodation in Edinburgh is really expensive. High rents cause poverty. There are pros and cons of decreasing the rent. If it is too draconian, it stops supply. The big issue is with the amount of short term let and the lack of supply of housing. There is not enough social housing. That is a consequence of people buying their council house.
I am aware that the City of Aberdeen have instituted a buy back scheme to take back former council houses into the public sector. This is both quicker and cheaper than building new and will provide homes that would otherwise be lying empty. However the scheme seems to have stalled at the moment due to the need to have documents signed in the presence of witnesses.
You can no longer buy your council house in Scotland rules are different in other parts of UK. Now is a very interesting time for private rental - lots of empty HMO/student flats since last weeks announcement. Many Airbnb went onto rental market or were sold. Perhaps a cap on the number of properties which are allowed to become holiday lets would free up property for homes.
Since December 2017 there has been huge improvement in private rental sector however we do not have enough homes to move too fast with some regulation or we risk loosing individual landlords (not all are bad) More affordable homes and build to rent homes which are more energy efficient as sometimes it is as much fuel poverty in older homes which affect people. Another housing issue is Edinburgh Council high council tax bands eg E on new "affordable" two bedroom properties in Leith.
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