As residents of Edinburgh, it’s no unusual experience to walk past or interact with homeless people across the capital—from Princes Street to South Bridge and Haymarket, it’s common, as students, to find ourselves in the precarious dilemma: what can I do to help?
Homelessness is a critical issue in Edinburgh and one that often gets overlooked due to sheer underestimation. The capital of Scotland has the second-highest rate of homelessness in the country, averaging around 7,000 people living in temporary housing. Furthermore, a 2024 report by the Cross-Party Group on Housing identified thousands of students to be at risk of homelessness due to an accommodation shortfall of just under 14,000 bed spaces.
With such dramatic figures, what lies at the heart of these problems, and what action can we take? This week, I spoke with two members of Slurp: Students for Action on Homelessness—a student-led organisation tackling housing injustice through volunteering, fundraising, and campaigning. Leo May, a volunteer with Slurp, and Noah Brown, its Co-President of Campaigns, gave me some insight.
Edinburgh students regularly face housing injustice: exploitative landlords, unfair contracts, and housing shortages. A big issue Slurp identified within this is PBSAs—Purpose-Built Student Accommodations—which, as Leo explained, are problematic for several reasons. They are often very expensive for students, which, without subsidisation, seems unfair given their necessity for first-years. “The university making money from students having to pay for accommodation feels wrong… like their motivation isn’t student-oriented but rather business-oriented.”
Alongside the steep cost, there are no promises from the university that a student can be granted a permanent home for the year. Noah informed me that Slurp had previously campaigned to pressure the university for an emergency accommodation guarantee for incoming students, which was ultimately rejected: “They should have the guarantee from the university that invites them to the city that they will not be homeless.” However, they intend to continue campaigning for this and challenging university PBSAs to ensure that the rights of students living in them are protected.
Another focus of Slurp is tackling homelessness through their volunteering efforts by assisting three community centres: the Bethany Christian Trust, Leith Community Café, and Goodies—cooking fresh, homemade meals. Due to resource constraints, homeless shelters often can’t provide nutritious food, but as Leo commented, “just because you’re homeless or struggling with the cost of food, it doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to have variety and healthy food options.” By volunteering at these centres, they strengthen the solidarity between the homeless and their communities, bridging them back from alienation. Noah described the efforts as “a real relationship that you build with people, and it makes you care. And it makes you excited to see them, to see people you know get back on their feet.”
They also run many fundraisers, outreach events, and other campaigns to tackle homelessness and assist students facing it. Leo recently led the coordination of a fundraiser ceilidh, raising money to support the volunteers with cooking resources. Slurp has many more plans ahead, namely a campaign to push solidarity with rough sleepers and raise awareness of the dangers of drug addiction, involving the free distribution of naloxone—an anti-opioid that can prevent overdoses.
So, if you’re passionate about assisting in the cause of housing injustice, how can you get involved? Volunteering with Slurp is a great way. They have multiple different types of volunteering a week, so every kind of person and skillset is welcome. They will also be holding an AGM on 10 April too, so be sure to check their EUSA page and Instagram for updates!
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash