long waits for council properties combined with rocketing prices mean that in some areas, if you're on a modest income and looking for something that just suits your needs, you might be out of luck. to understand the problem, we're in a city where it's at its most acute... ..edinburgh. edinburgh enjoys its status as a tourist hot spot, and it's also the financial and political nerve centre of scotland. but all that comes at a cost. house prices here are skyrocketing, rents are rising faster than in any other part of the country, and it has one of the highest rates of families in temporary accomodation. and at the same time, there is a shortage of social housing. this is michael urquhart, his partner, kara, and theirfour children — teagan, holly, michelle and james. and this is where they live. michael has offered to show me around. hi, michael, how you doing? hey. cheers. going to give me a tour? yeah, no problem. this is room number one. i have one bed here where both the girls sleep, the older ones. teagan�*s on the bottom bunk and holly's on the top bunk. all right, and how old are they? 12 and 13. 12 and 13, ok. up you get. oi! and this is michelle's bunk up there, and james is down there. michelle's eight years old. this wee sausage is two and a half. this is the majority of their toys. they keep the majority of their clothes in between that. this is a two bedroom flat. the family spent time in one of the city's homeless to and have had six private flats in ten years. they've been trying to get a council house, but for now, they make the most of the space they've got. that's your one. laughter. the urquhart family is one of 21,000 applicants on the housing list and edinburgh, a city with the promotion of social housing is half that of the national average. itjust goes down there. and that's our sleeping arrangements. every morning and every night. it's exercise! every day. you've got to make the best of a bad situation. and it's no easierfor those on modest incomes looking to buy in a city when the market is squeezed by shortage of affordable housing. aimee is a beautician and lives with her parents and has been saving for years to buy a one bed flat in the city near work. when she left school ten years ago, the average price for a flat in the city was £164,000. today, it's £236,000. how much money have you saved? at this point, i'm up to about 30,000. about 25—30% of my budget. i've done quite well so far. you've saved £30,000, and that's sacrificing how much of your summer? most of it. i only really spend on the necessities so i've got my phone and my car, and i give a little bit to my parents every month. most of that, i save after, so the majority of my wage. even with a big deposit, she has been unable to find anything in her price range. a lot of the new builds are too expensive because they're at a premium so i can't get them. i've looked at the likes of a bit more of a rundown property that i would do up, which i'd be quite keen on but then you're up against developers, and then you've got no chance to buy because they've got a bigger budget. it's a struggle, you hit walls everywhere you look. why not live outside edinburgh? ifeel like edinburgh is my home and i want to be near my family. i don't feel like i should live any further away than i am now. aimee could apply for help to share the ownership of the property with the scottish government but the rules say she can only buy a property at its home report value, which is difficult in the city competitive market, where homes often go for well over the asking price. so what could aimee get with her savings? we asked estate agent gary middlemass. what can i get in edinburgh for £100,000, £110,000? nothing on here. my cheapest at the moment is offers over 160. 100,000, i might be able to sell you a lock—up. a lock—up? a lock—up. a comfortable lock—up, but a lock—up. gary has been selling homes in the city for a0 years. in my experience, the market in edinburgh is frantic. there are simply not enough properties at the moment, and that means when something does come on the market that creates a bit interest, there tends to be a lot of interest which pushes up the prices. we spoke to a beautician yesterday who's managed to raise £30,000 as a deposit on a modest salary, but she is still finding nothing in her price range in edinburgh. what do you think she could do? does she do the lottery? does she have a rich mum and dad that could maybe equity release, lend her some savings? even take money out of their own pension plan. it's tough. the lack of affordable homes to buy or rent today is connected to the sell—off of council housing decades ago in places like wester hill in the south west of the city. homes like these were sold after the right—to—buy scheme was introduced for council in the 1980s. allison watson heads the housing charity shelter scotland. if we look at the period between 1993 and 2018, we've lost 227,000 houses. that's a combination of sell—offs and demolitions, so we've gone dramatically backwards and we're not building anything like enough to make up the difference. but it's notjust an urban issue. some rural areas experience the same twin pressures — a shortage of social housing and a boom in private sales driving things up. and in some areas, factor in the holiday let sector. we've come to the isle of skye, which at first glance doesn't exactly have much in common with the capital city. but research is showing it is beginning to rival edinburgh when it comes to the pressures due to lack of affordable housing. the ferry from mallaig in the mainland docks here at armadale. it's a popular tourist route but the person we're waiting for isn't on holiday. she's a student here, and this is how she's commuted for the last three years. i live in arisaig and i drive from my arisaig every morning to mallaig and then i get the ferry from mallaig to armadale on the south side of skye. and then i get in my other car that i leave on the south side of skye and i drive to sabhal mor college every day to go to my classes. it's cheaper for katherine to run two old cars on eitgher side of the water than to pay to bring a single car over on the crossing. it's also cheaper than renting a home on skye. we did look at housing as a private rental property, and it wasn't just a house, we would have taken a caravan. it could have been a studio, whatever we could get. skye�*s tourism is reshaping the island's housing stock. of 5,500 properties on the island, it's estimated that more than 600 are listed on airbnb. it's estimated that more than 600 in the six weeks we monitored property availability here, we didn't find a single listing for long—term private rent. chisolm campbell is one of a group of young people campaigning for affordable housing in the island. he works full—time on the ferries, but can't afford to leave his parents' home. there was a perfect house we found. i think it was 185. we were going to live | in there permanently. just last week, it's holiday home for £700 a week. i that person is paying off their- mortgage as well as making a profit. the average house price here is £230,000. chisolm is on the list for social housing and has applied for one of these homes. 0ver there is the first housing i development in about 21 years. what are your chances of getting one of those? slim. - very slim. there are six houses being built. two are for purchasing and four are for social rent. _ there's about 27 people on the waiting list, - and i'm one of the 27. if things don't change, chisolm may have to leave the island to find a home. if people are wanting to buy a home here, maybe they should think, - who's losing out on this? is the community - actually sustainable? it's not sustainable - to be buying homes here. it could be destroying _ to the area more than anything. calum munroe is a counsellor for the northeast of the island. much of his income is from holiday lets in his family's land. both buildings are similar. it's for a family for four people. there's hardly anybody here. two semi detached. one is a holiday let, one is a second home, it became increasingly so over the last four or five years. what we're seeing is people coming for two or three nights. they are coming for shorter stays. so the increase in income. it became a bigger part of our livelihood. we're seeing high prices and a lot of accommodations used for tourism. so, we're in a double whammy because the market for young people living here is almost, well, it is, beyond their reach. you might expect that in skye, but away from the heart of the city, away from the tourist in this residential street in prestonfield, we can see the new face of housing in edinburgh. this is the holiday apartment i have. jane is a leasing agent. first bedroom. a quarter of edinborough's housing is private rental. the majority of guests just stay for two nights maximum. she manages 70 apartments in edinburgh. how much would you get for this? £1000 a month. that seems quite extraordinary considering this is... an ex council flat. but the market in the last two months has gone up like crazy. i rented a one—bedroom for £970. until the pandemic, a third of the properties jane was managing were short—term holiday lets. what's the difference between you can make as a long—term landlord versus having a short—term holiday let? over a 12 month period, in my opinion, you could get at least 25—30% more revenue. scotland has seen a boom and holiday accommodation made available via online booking platforms. in edinburgh, one in eight homes in the city centre was listed by airbnb. experts say this is placing a strain on the local market, but despite public consultation, and calls for tougher regulations new laws clamping down on the number of short—term let's have been delayed. douglas robertson has studied housing in scotland for a0 years. the situation in edinburgh, given the pressure is facing, 12,000 houses that were previously let out _ 12,000 houses that were previously let out to _ 12,000 houses that were previously let out to families are no longer available — let out to families are no longer available for that letting. when you provided this, some of your work to the scottish government, what reaction did you get from them? ..would cover it. i don't think anybody wanted to hear it because in a sense, it's one policy of tourism butting up against another about housing and community. the spiky issue of what to do about edinburgh and scotland's short—term let boom can be seen in exchanges between ministers, civil servants and representatives of the short term rental sector, including airbnb. in a letter to the scottish government, airbnb displayed plans for a registration scheme or short—term letting as one of the most regressive regimes anywhere. the association for scottish self caterers, which represents the interests, says the plan for local scheme... were a blunt tool that would be the deathknell for the industry. and their language gets stronger and describes a walking group set up by the government to discuss the issue as a sham, and that tourist bodies have been treated with other contempt. the result of all these exchanges, airbnb and the other tourist bodies walked away from the working group last month, and there's no registration scheme. fiona campbell runs the association of scotland self caterers. you call it a sham? yeah, it was a sham. we think it was a smoke screen to say they had worked with the industry to amend the licensing order. they did not. they simply did not. it is disingenuous at best to suggest that it did and duplicitous at worse. we are now saying if the government is intent on delivering a licensing scheme, they should exempt registered accommodation. so people who put their flat on airbnb would be subjected to this regulation, versus? protecting the professional businesses, absolutely. we put that to the new cabinet secretary with responsibility for housing. we don't want people to walk away from a working group, _ and we would want to continue to engage. i the two meetings i've had with the association - and airbnb since that meeting, they've expressed an interest. in continuing to work- with the scottish government, but we also have to balance . their interest with the interest of those local people who've raised serious concerns about the impactl of short—term lets. airbnb told us... in reality, holiday lets are only a recent concern. this started year before online booking platforms. in edinburgh, there is a two—year wait to be rehoused by a local authority that sold 40,000 homes under right to buy. if you're looking for three bedrooms, that wait can stretch to three years. i'm not going to pretend it's easy for people. we have 6,000 households who are currently homeless, and we don't have a huge supply. that's why we're sending here where we're building housings and mid—markets as well. even back in 2007, the scottish government... and wanted 35,000 homes of all types built a year. the financial crash of 2008, however, derailed those plans. the housing industry has yet to beat the pre—crash levels. the government nearly missed its last five year target. there's always more we want to do and more that we will do, - which is why we set the 110,000 homes by 2032~ _ over 103,000 homes have been delivered since 2007. _ compare that to the previous administration, who i think. delivered six council houses - in the preceding seven years before we took office in 2007. there were only six council housing belts. but housing associations provided nearly 29,000 homes for social rent in that period. still considered short of what was needed. the shortage of social housing led to initiatives encouraging people to hold ownership, but two scotland's quickest schemes help to buy and the first home fund our closing down. scotland's house—building sector has been lobbying the government. in england, you still have help to buy. it has radically changed. it has now been changed to target only first—time buyers, which is right. i think that's where the need is greatest. the english government have also introduced something called first homes, which is a form of shared ownership, which is a discounted house which you buy, but you buy it for 30% less than the open market value. so, they have two really good schemes, aimed at getting people onto the housing ladder. we have nothing equivalent in scotland now. ijust think it's so unfair for some young people, a young adult who is chosen to live and work in scotland, unable to buy a house. whereas in england, they could. help to buy supported thousands of how sales over its eight years. last year, most people accessing the scheme or under 35 the scheme were under 35 and were first—time buyers. the government and the industry disagree over whether the scheme helped the right people. house builders are saying scotland is becoming probably the hardest place for a first—time buyer to purchase a property in all of the uk. i'm not sure i would accept that. i think the figure is for first—time purchases. i and house purchases generally are very buoyant. the scheme is still in operation. yes, but it will come to an end because the evidence - is showing us that actually, people using that scheme i could afford to buy their own home, but with government assistance, . they were perhaps buying a bigger property and a more expensive - property than they would have otherwise bought. i we have a judgment to make with limited resources. - where do we put those limited resources? - therefore, we believe the best- investment going forward for those resources are to help those who could not afford - to buy their own home _ without the government assistance. we can't spend money on everything. we believe going forward, - those are the best policy choices in order to help people in those ways. - what does that mean for someone like bank worker nicole? after her private let collapse, she was registered homeless. she spent nearly five years in a social housing list. then she applied for one of these flats. these are mid—market rentals. supported by public funding, built by private companies to offer affordable housing. the rents are cheaper than private renting accommodation but it is not social housing. it's quite similar. you're talking kind of up to 1000, give or take. nicole still pays more than half her monthly wage on rent and council tasks. i really like it here. i think for somebody like myself who's on their own, my goal of a mortgage now is unrealistic in this property. if prices continue to rise in certain areas, if ownership is so out of reach for so many, does that make rental an attractive alternative? favored by the scottish government is a programme called build to rent. nearly 10,000 across scotland. for some people, that is a way of meeting their needs. - the government's investmentl is around social renting sector, and we've seen the latest figures. 0ver103,000 homesj delivered since 2007. it's about a range of solutions to meet a range of needs. - even with 38,000 social homes in edinburgh, there still aren't enough. for now, the urquhart family need to wait. it should be up? every friday, they and thousands of others across the city must log on to apply for properties being offered by the counsellor or local housing associations, and a process known as bidding. you get how many bids? three a week. just apply. there are hundreds of bids for each property. now what happens? usually... nothing, normally. we've never actually had that experience. competing in a social housing system that's oversubscribed, bidding for properties that are overpriced and stalking homes that are overcrowded — what does the immediate future hold? i think i'm probably going to be here for another couple years. because the bidding is not gone. i'd ratherjust keep myself here until i can get my forever home. it'sjust important because the prices are astronomically high. for young people, i don't see how there's any possibility of people being able to live on the islands. it's disheartening, really. ijust feel like nothing - is good enough, basically. i could work seven days, and still not be any- better off than i am now. houses are being built, but for now, and some of scotland's most desirable areas, those with the means flourish while others find homes thatjust suit their needs remain ever more out of reach. hello there. with a mixture of sunshine and blustery showers today, it has been a day for chasing rainbows. this double rainbow was seen in lincolnshire later in the afternoon as the showers whooshed across from the west. and a rainbow in the shetland islands, it has been very windy early on, first some wet weather sweeping eastwards across northern scotland, turning dry overnight. a few showers keeping going overnight, particularly developing light across southern england and wales, the wind off the english channel meaning temperatures remain in double figures. with clearer skies, scotland could see four or five degrees. more showers tomorrow morning, but eastern areas dry, showers more likely out towards the west. the winds will not be as strong tomorrow, temperatures similar to today, and we have got rain developing by the end of the day, it will be a little cooler. the rain is coming from the steepening area of low pressure, meaning the winds are strengthening around the low as it moves into the uk. curled around this area of low pressure, we have rain moving northwards into scotland, rain continuing across northern england and wales. to the south, turning bright and breezy, dry for northern ireland, but for many a windy day, particularly around coastal areas, and combined with the rain, it will not feel warm at all for large parts of the country, no higher than 13. the wetter, windier weather will pull away as the low pressure moves into continental europe, and high pressure builds in from the atlantic. wednesday is still cloudy and windy to start in eastern england with a few showers. the winds will start to ease down, and more of the country will see sunshine. with the lighter winds, a warmer day on wednesday, but we have increasing cloud and rain arriving into northern ireland by the end of the day, and that is the next approaching atlantic weather system that will bring a ribbon of rain to the north—west. higher pressure in the south—east. that means we have a south—westerly wind which will bring some warmth and maybe lift temperatures close to 20 degrees later on. changing the uk's economic model — the prime minister says the supply chain problems are part of an adjustment after brexit. is the country in crisis, sir? as the conservative party conference opens in manchester — he's faced questions about shortages of fuel and skilled workers. what we can't do in all these sectors, simply go back to the tired, failed, old model, reach for the lever called uncontrolled immigration. and he has not ruled out further tax increases. we'll be live in manchester with the latest. also tonight:

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