Housing and homelessness 'disaster' as over 7,000 people in temporary accommodation in Glasgow

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A staggering 7,000 homeless people are living in temporary accommodation in Glasgow amid a housing and homelessness emergency, the Record can reveal.A total of 7,266 people were in temporary accommodation on April 1, including 2,765 children.Some 1,590 homeless people were living in hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation.

This included 52 families with children.Nearly 250 women were staying in hotel or bed and breakfasts where there were also men.The average time that a family with three children stayed in temporary accommodation between January 1, 2023 and April 1, 2024 was 30 weeks.The statistics were obtained by longtime activist Sean Clerkin, who is campaigns coordinator for the Scottish Tenants Organisation.He said the situation was a "disaster" and urged Glasgow City Council to build and renovate more homes to deal with the crisis.It comes after the Record revealed the Scottish Government would declare a national housing crisis on Wednesday.We led the way in exposing the heartbreaking impact of the crisis around Scotland.Homelessness is at record levels, with 30,724 open applications recorded - an increase of 10 per cent.Private rental prices rose by 6.8 per cent in the twelve months to January and housebuilding has slumped.Humza Yousaf's Government also implemented a near £200m cut in the affordable housing budget.Some councils had already declared an emergency - including Glasgow and Edinburgh.SNP ministers declared the national housing emergency during a debate led by Labour at Holyrood.

Clerkin said: "These homeless metrics for Glasgow show the scale of the housing and homeless disaster in the city showing record numbers of homeless people stuck in squalid, overcrowded and substandard temporary accommodation.