A MONEY-saving revamp of services for Edinburgh's homeless has been left in chaos after council chiefs withdrew a series of contract offers to city charities at the last minute.
Support services for 120 vulnerable adults across the city, who are at risk of becoming homeless, were expected to be transferred from Edinburgh Home Link Partnership (EHLP) to charities SAMH and Streetwork next week.
But the deal has fallen thro
ugh at the last minute, forcing the council to take the services in-house.
Other homelessness services provided on behalf of the council, which were also meant to transfer next week, have been put on hold with previous operators asked to continue them for six months.
However, council chiefs today refused to spell out what these affected services are.
The change was part of a £14 million re-tendering of all council homeless support services, such as emergency advice for people at risk of sleeping rough.
It is not clear how much of a dent the delay will have on the £3.5m in efficiency savings anticipated from the reorganisation.
Opposition politicians today described the situation as a "mess", but city leaders today said all staff and service users affected are being kept up to date.
Councillor Gordon Munro, the city's Labour housing spokesman, said: "They can't say they were not warned about this – we tried to raise this at health and social care and the full council meetings – both times we were batted away.
"The situation is a mess – just one week before the contract was meant to be transferred and nobody, either clients or the staff, knew what was going on.
"The council told us they didn't need to manage the handover process but it is now quite clear they did and the whole episode raises serious questions about the tendering process.
"What is of real concern is what is happening to both the staff and homelessness service users affected by this.
"We can't afford for these people to be left in the wilderness because of the council."
Over recent years, city leaders have virtually eliminated rough sleeping in Edinburgh and the focus has now switched to a new early prevention initiative.
The new approach by the council is aimed at helping those on the cusp of losing their home and follows an increase in demand for housing advice from people who have had their homes repossessed.
The city's housing leader, Councillor Paul Edie, said: "We have withdrawn the offer of contract to the preferred bidder for some services to homeless people in the latest round of commissioning and are instead extending some existing provider contracts by six months. We have also decided to take some services 'in house' from April 27 and continuity of service will be ensured."
