The staggering figures behind Scotland's homelessness crisis amid 1700% housing gap spike

Thousands of homeless people were turned away from temporary accommodation last year after councils ran out of space.

Thousands of homeless families in Glasgow faced finding space with friends and families or enduring a night on the streets last year after a surge in demand meant council chiefs could not offer temporary accommodation .

Campaigners have warned that local authorities in Glasgow and Edinburgh are “simply unable to cope” with demand for homelessness, with people being “denied their housing rights with alarming regularity”.

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The emergency situation was laid bare in annual homelessness statistics, published by the Scottish Government this week, that revealed more than 10,000 children are living in temporary accommodation.

A leading homeless charity has told The Scotsman “the current approach cannot go on indefinitely” with a plea for a “shift away from constant firefighting” towards a blueprint to prevent people losing their homes.

Rough sleeping has increased across Scotland as the number of people in temporaray accommodation has soared (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)Rough sleeping has increased across Scotland as the number of people in temporaray accommodation has soared (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)
Rough sleeping has increased across Scotland as the number of people in temporaray accommodation has soared (Picture: Lisa Ferguson) | Lisa Ferguson

The Scottish Government cut around £200 million from its affordable housebuilding budget after receiving a huge cut to its capital budget and financial transactions budget from Westminster - with the lack of affordable housing thought to be fuelling the homelessness crisis.

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A total 33,619 households were assessed as homeless, an increase of 3 per cent on last year and the highest since records began in 2016. New homeless applications rose by 4 per cent with 40,685 cases and open applications rose by 8 per cent.

Rough sleeping of people who slept on the streets the night before seeking help from a council rose by 28 per cent in the space of a year. Households in temporary accommodation increased by 9 per cent, with 15,030 stays in 2022-23 increasing by 1,291 to 16,330 in 2023/24.

The proportion of households being placed in B&B accommodation has also increased from 12 per cent as of March 2023 to 16 per cent in March 2024. In 2023/24, households spent an average of 226 days in temporary accommodation.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, there were 7,400 reported breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order compared to 5,240 reported in 2022/23. Glasgow had the largest number of legal breaches at 2,990, followed by Edinburgh on 1,525.

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Edinburgh City Council paid out an estimated £48.5m on temporary accommodation for homeless households in 2023/24 while the costs to Glasgow City Council reached £73.5m.

But there was also a staggering 1700 per cent increase in councils being unable to offer temporary accommodation, despite having a legal requirement to do so.

In 2022/23, there were 450 instances where a local authority was unable to offer temporary accommodation, but in the space of a year, that had soared to 7,915 occasions.

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In Edinburgh, the 420 instances increased to 1,515 within 12 months. But in Glasgow, which only had five such instances in 2022/23, the city registered 6,260 occasions the council was unable to meet its legal requirement to offer temporary accommodation.

The Scotsman understands that when Glasgow City Council has been unable to provide temporary accommodation to homeless people, the authority attempts to find somewhere to stay with that person’s friends or family - but that isn’t always possible.

The surge in Glasgow City Council being unable to provide temporary accommodation comes as levels of people rough sleeping in the city the night before making a homeless application doubled from 325 to 640.

Council chiefs in Glasgow have faced a 15 per cent increase in homeless applications in the space of a year against a national rise of 4 per cent. The explosion of people being turned away from temporary accommodation in the city comes despite council bosses adding an extra 600 spaces for people to stay.

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Writing in The Scotsman, Crisis chief executive Matt Downie said that “as pressure grows” on local authorities, “it becomes harder for them to cope”.

Matt Downie, chief executive of CrisisMatt Downie, chief executive of Crisis
Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis

He said the new figures are “further proof” that “councils are closing cases, but not as quickly as new applications are coming in”.

Mr Downie added: “They’re working to end homelessness, but they’re not able to keep up with growing demand.

“The impact of that trend is profound. As demand grows, people end up trapped within the homelessness system for longer, while good quality temporary accommodation becomes harder to find.

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“As more people are forced from their homes, the worst options – places riddled with damp or mould or invested with lice or rats – become the only option. The system is creaking, and the examples that were once shocking increasingly become the norm.”

Mr Downie added: “It’s clear the current approach cannot go on indefinitely. We must act urgently, to stop the flow of more human beings into the homelessness system.

“We need to shift the system towards prevention. To shift away from constant firefighting and install a system of smoke detectors, to set off the alarm when someone first starts to encounter problems with their housing.”

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said the figures “paint a grim reality” about Scotland’s housing emergency.

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She said: “Alarming records are consistently being broken and there’s now 10,110 children in temporary accommodation.

Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland.  Photo Phil Wilkinson.Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland.  Photo Phil Wilkinson.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland. Photo Phil Wilkinson.

“This is distinctly evident in Edinburgh and Glasgow as the local homelessness systems are simply unable to cope with demand and people are being denied their housing rights with alarming regularity. Allowing these breaches of housing rights to become routine creates a situation where rights exist only on paper.”

Ms Watson stressed “the root cause of the housing emergency is decades of underinvestment in social housing and years of local homelessness services being starved of the resources they need to do their jobs”.

She said: “This lack of social housing is trapping people in temporary accommodation, denying them the stability, security, and genuine affordability offered by a social tenancy.

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“This cannot continue, and urgent action from every level of government is needed to tackle the housing emergency.

“If the Scottish Government is serious about tackling the housing emergency, then it needs to set a meaningful target for delivering social homes by the end of this Parliament, reverse the brutal cuts to the housing budget, and make sure local homelessness services have the resources they need to perform effectively.”

In August last year, Edinburgh City Council assessed two people as being ineligible for accommodation in the city, so were placed in Durham in England for seven days before being reclassified as eligible. But the council paid £801 for them to stay in Durham as well as almost £1,000 to take them to Durham and back in a taxi.

Glasgow City Council said it does not send people to other local authorities for temporary accommodation.

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Edinburgh’s housing, homelessness and fair work convener Jane Meagher admitted it was “scandalous there had been a national increase in homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation”.

SNP housing minister Paul McLellan and Edinburgh City Council’s housing convener Jane MeagherSNP housing minister Paul McLellan and Edinburgh City Council’s housing convener Jane Meagher
SNP housing minister Paul McLellan and Edinburgh City Council’s housing convener Jane Meagher

She said: “In Edinburgh, we declared a housing emergency in November to recognise the pressures on temporary accommodation and draw attention to the issue.

“There is a significant lack of housing in Edinburgh right now and we know that it is hard for anyone looking for a social housing tenancy. The reality is that demand for temporary accommodation in Edinburgh far outstrips supply, which means that sometimes we’re unable to access any in the city.

“The stark choice facing us is that we either look for suitable accommodation outside Edinburgh or people will have to sleep on the streets, which no one wants. Wherever this happens, we will always support people back to accommodation within the city as soon as possible.”

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Ms Meagher said “if we don’t have the funding to increase our supply of affordable homes, we’ll continue to be forced to provide a roof over people’s heads wherever and however we can”.

She said: “Every single person deserves a suitable, safe, and affordable place to call home, and we will continue to fight for fairer funding and to demand urgent and united action.”

In Glasgow, council leader Susan Aitken has highlighted applications from those granted leave to remain from the Home Office doubled from 1,384 in 2022/23 to 2,709 in 2023/24.

Ms Aitken has written to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, warning the costs of the scheme to the city are “tens of millions of pounds”, but has “not received a penny in funding from the Home Office”.

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A decision last year by the Home Office to speed up applications has led to more people either granted refugee status or refused, with both outcomes leading to those forced to leave their Home Office provided accommodation and many presenting as homeless to the council as Glasgow is classed as a “dispersal city”.

The Scottish Refugee Council’s service manager Esther Muchena said the organisation was “extremely concerned about the sharp rise in refugees experiencing homelessness”.

She added: "When people are granted refugee protection, they are given just 28 days to move out of asylum accommodation and find somewhere else to live.

"People with newly-granted status will not have savings for rental deposits and will struggle to afford many of the up-front costs required in moving, which is resulting in significant strain on local authorities and homelessness services.

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"We want to see the ‘move-on’ period increased to 56 days, which is a much more realistic timeframe to navigate such an important transition. Councils must be supported to move people out of temporary accommodation as quickly as possible and into a suitable place to live.

"Our network of staff and volunteers will continue to advise and support those experiencing housing insecurity."

A spokeswoman for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership said: “We are in a housing crisis and unfortunately the demand for permanent accommodation far outstrips availability and supply.

“That means people – particularly larger families with children – are spending longer in temporary accommodation than anyone would wish.”

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First Minister John Swinney (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)First Minister John Swinney (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)
First Minister John Swinney (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

First Minister John Swinney has stressed the Scottish Government is “taking action to remedy” the housing emergency.

He said: “Further work is being undertaken to strengthen investment in the construction of new homes and the refurbishment of existing homes to be available for rent, and steps are being taken in the planning system to tackle the housing emergency.

“The Government is absolutely focused on building on its strong record of house construction to tackle the challenges that we face.”

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