Council homelessness casework rises 10% during the pandemic

New figures published today show that local authorities in Scotland have seen a 10% increase in the number of live homelessness cases in the last year. The figures come despite emergency laws restricting evictions and repossessions during the pandemic.  

The official Scottish Government figures show that there was a fall in the number of homelessness applications in the first year of the pandemic but delays to getting people into new, permanent homes has resulted in rising numbers of households in temporary accommodation and councils seeing caseloads rise to some of their highest ever levels.  

At the end of March this year, there were 13,097 households in temporary accommodation (up 12% on 2019-2020)  and 25,226 live cases (up 10% on 2019-2020).  

The number of households assessed as homeless in the 12 months to the end of March 2021 fell by 13% as evictions and mortgage repossessions were restricted by law. 

Gordon MacRae, Assistant Director of housing charity Shelter Scotland, said:  

“These figures show that the unprecedented action taken to keep people in their homes during the pandemic has worked. It meant that the number of people applying for homelessness assistance went down overall. Despite this council homelessness teams have never been busier, exposing that local services are at breaking point and may be unable to cope with a future spike in homelessness when pandemic restrictions are lifted. 

 “The Scottish Government were right to pass legislation to keep people in their homes  but we can and must do more during the pandemic.  

"Firstly, nobody should be evicted while we wait for the promised new tenant grant scheme to open. Those evictions are preventable and unnecessary.   

"Secondly, we need to learn the lessons of what has worked to prevent homelessness and require landlords to do more to keep people in the home they have. 

"Thirdly, we need to address why people who become homeless stay homeless for longer. We are calling for a National Taskforce to coordinate the provision of temporary accommodation especially for families who spend the longest time waiting for a permanent home."  

 Gordon MacRae added: 

“Longer term we need to address the reasons that our housing system has become so broken and biased. We need to build our way out of the housing emergency by accelerating the Scottish Government’s ten-year plan for social house building. We need a minimum of 37,100 social homes during this this Parliament. 

 “At a time when 95% of the Scottish adult population is white but only 87% of applications came from white households we must do more to understand why People of Colour and other marginalised groups are more likely to experience homelessness than other communities. By delivering on the promise to making housing a human right for everyone, Scottish Ministers can put social justice at the heart of Scotland’s housing system.”