Homelessness stats: Ministers must “keep their promises” to homeless people

We have called on the Scottish Government to keep its promises to homeless people,
as new statistics show the scale of the housing emergency at the beginning of
the coronavirus crisis.

The annual homelessness statistics, published by the Scottish Government, show 31,333
households were assessed as homeless in 2019-2020, an increase of 4% on the
previous year. This means a household became homeless every 17 minutes.

On the 31 March 2020, there were 11,665 households in temporary accommodation, a 6% increase on the year before and the highest number on record. This includes 7,280 children,
a 7% increase, also the highest number on record.

As these figures stop at 31 March 2020, they don’t capture the impact of the coronavirus
pandemic and lockdown measures. Other data sources indicate that homelessness
applications and numbers in temporary accommodation have increased significantly since the end of March.

Commenting on the statistics, Our Assistant Director for Communications and Advocacy, Gordon MacRae said:  

“These figures show that Scotland’s homelessness system was failing people even before the pandemic hit.

“We had rising homelessness and record numbers of people in temporary accommodation before the lockdown. Local authorities were already struggling to cope with the level of
housing need. And since then the situation has gotten a lot worse.

“The Scottish Government took swift action in the early days of the pandemic to get rough
sleepers off the streets, protect people from eviction and limit the amount of time anyone could spend in unsuitable temporary accommodation. They pledged not to go backwards on homelessness as we emerged from the crisis.

“Now is the time for Ministers to uphold their promises to homeless people. Government and local authorities must urgently step up and significantly increase the supply of suitable
accommodation.”

"Otherwise a short-term success could become a long-term crisis, with more and more people trapped in unsuitable temporary accommodation, or forced back on to the
streets.”

He added:

“Today’s statistics show a 45% spike in homelessness presentations from people who were
previously in supported accommodation. We’ll be working with local authorities and government to understand why this was happening to the most vulnerable groups even before the lockdown. We must quickly understand the reasons behind this unprecedented spike.”