House Scotland’s homeless in hotels, urges charity

A charity has called for hotel rooms to be used to house Scotland’s rough sleepers as it begins an early phased closure of its winter night shelter.

Homelessness had been falling since the start of the decade but is now rising again

Glasgow City Mission was due to close its accomodation on March 31 but it will now shut on Friday due to growing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

The Christian charity, which has supported the city’s vulnerable since 1826, said the decision “feels wrong” but added it was the right thing for the safety of its guests.

Glasgow has faced a growing homelessness crisis in recent years, prompting the Scottish Government to launch a review after official statistics revealed that Scotland’s largest council was failing to offer temporary accommodation to homeless people on thousands of occasions.

“It is with a very heavy heart that we announce the phased closure of the Glasgow Winter Night Shelter,” a statement from Glasgow City Mission said.

“Following stringent Government advice last night (16 March) about congregating together people we have had to take the incredibly hard decision to close down the night shelter ahead of time.”

“This closure will be 12 nights earlier than scheduled. We have helped more than 600 people since we opened on 28 November and of these at least 70% have had positive outcomes.

“The early closure will apply more pressure to the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) to ensure those needing accommodation have a roof over their head.

“We will continue to work tirelessly with the HSCP to make this happen and we are advocating for a publicly funded response to housing all vulnerable people through this crisis.”

Charles Maasz, chief executive of the Glasgow City Mission, told The Ferret news agency: “I think it’s a matter of public health and safety that vulnerable people aren’t obliged to sleep in close quarters.

“We can’t offer people isolation at the shelter and in the lack of any testing, which is only available in hospitals, we don’t know if people who turn up may be infectious but not yet showing symptoms.

“We are therefore playing a game of roulette with people. It’s hard to say this, but the shelter is potentially the least safe option for people.”

Maasz added: “At this time we are restricting travel and hotel occupancy rates will be plummeting so I would imagine there are spaces in hotels that could be used to accommodate people. We need immediate action on providing a suitable solution.”

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council told The Scotsman: “Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (GCHSCP) is busy putting in place contingency plans to reduce risk to vulnerable homeless people, many of whom have underlying health conditions.

“This involves working with a range of stakeholders including: Police Scotland and those concerned with housing and health. As well as third sector partners like the Simon Community.

“This is a charity we work closely with and whose Street Team build up relationships with rough sleepers. We’re currently identifying temporary furnished flats that would allow people to self-isolate if necessary as well as self- contained spaces within communal accommodation.”