The decision comes as new figures reveal the council failed to provide accommodation for hundreds of homeless households in March.

The council recently purchased the five-storey building to bolster its temporary accommodation supply, which already houses over 10,000 people, including 3,155 children. Planning permission for the change of use has been granted for a ten-year period.

Edinburgh’s housing emergency has intensified this year after the council was forced to stop using hotels and B&Bs that were operating as unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs). This move, prompted by warnings from the council’s own lawyers, resulted in the immediate loss of 500 bed spaces, significantly worsening the city’s homelessness crisis, The Herald reports.

The repercussions were stark. In March alone, the council was unable to find accommodation for homeless households on 750 occasions, which accounts for nearly 58% of all cases that month. Concurrently, the number of people sleeping rough rose from 37 to 59 individuals known to the council. In response to the escalating pressure, councillors agreed in April to suspend the usual lettings policy to prioritise moving people from unsuitable temporary accommodation into available council homes.

Council officials have pointed to a large and growing number of “non-preventable” homelessness cases originating from outside Edinburgh as a major factor in the struggle to meet demand. Efforts are also underway to bring approximately 700 void council homes back into use, with a target to halve this number within the next year.

Shelter Scotland acknowledged the council’s move as a necessary “emergency response taken in exceptional circumstances” but emphasised it is “not a long-term solution”.

Gordon Macrae, the charity’s assistant director, said: “The council is facing an impossible task without enough homes or resources. We know this situation has not emerged overnight; it is the result of decades of underinvestment.”

He called for greater support from the Scottish Government to help the council fulfil its legal duties and “to ensure everyone has a safe, secure and affordable home”.