While it’s true that Scottish officials recently moved local homeless encampments in Edinburgh and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to town, the two have nothing to do with each other.
Edinburgh officials clarified that the decision to send individuals experiencing homelessness to other Scottish cities was solely due to a lack of available rooms in city hotels that they occasionally use for temporary housing.
“It is a symptom of the housing emergency we face in Edinburgh that at times we must use tourist accommodation to house homeless households,” Jane Meagher, the housing convenor representative of the Edinburgh City Council, told BBC in a Wednesday, May 29, statement, noting it was “absolutely not” to accommodate Swift, 34, and her tour.
Meagher added, “We know it won’t be available year-round, particularly over the busy summer months, so we use it reluctantly as a last resort. We’re aware of the situation and are working with the affected households to find appropriate, alternative accommodation.”
Earlier this month, crowds of people experiencing homelessness were bussed out of their encampments. Tenants rights nonprofit Shelter Scotland argued against the decision to bus homeless people to other cities, but agreed that the situation had nothing to do with the Eras Tour dates.
“In Edinburgh that emergency now places people experiencing homelessness in direct competition with tourists; a blatant injustice,” Shelter Scotland Director Alison Watson told the BBC on Wednesday. “Our frontline services are already seeing people in need of a bed tonight being told their only option is to leave the city.”
Watson continued, “A family going through the trauma of homelessness in Edinburgh should not have to move miles from their job, school, and community to find emergency accommodation.”
Swift kicked off the European leg of her Eras Tour earlier in May with four Paris concerts and heads to Scotland next week. She will perform three concerts at Edinburgh’s Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium beginning Friday, June 7.
Swift has not publicly addressed the Scotland controversy, instead remaining focused on her latest Eras shows. She played four concerts in Lisbon and Madrid earlier this week. Her next stop is Lyon, France on Sunday, June 2.
“I LOVE YOU FOREVER MADRID!!! No ability to convey my thoughts other than to just YELL that,” Swift wrote via Instagram on Friday, May 31. “We just got to spend 2 magical nights dancing and singing with the most electrifying, passionate crowds and I’ll never forget a second of it. I can’t thank you all enough. See you 🔜 Lyon!”
Swift will then perform the show in Edinburgh and a string of additional June and July dates around the United Kingdom. The pop star will tour continental Europe through July and early August before closing the run with a return to London for six more concerts. Swift wraps Eras with additional performances in Canada and the U.S. in the fall.
