Time Is Running Out to Fix Scotland’s Broken and Biased Housing System

Shelter Scotland warns that it would take over 28 years to reduce the number of children in temporary accommodation to zero if the current rate of progress is maintained*, as 10,180 children are still without a permanent home.   

According to figures published today by the Scottish Government, there has been a small decrease in homeless applications, and a reduction of children in temporary accommodation since September 2024. On the face of it, this is good news.  

But scrutiny of those numbers raises more questions than answers – people were denied temporary accommodation when they were legally entitled to it at an unprecedented level in 2024-25, 16,485 times, which was more than double the number from the previous year. The number of households experiencing homelessness is stuck at a record high and there are now 17,240 households in temporary accommodation, a 6% increase compared to 2024, a result of decades of underinvestment and a failure to prioritise fixing Scotland’s broken and biased housing system.   

Gordon MacRae, Assistant Director Communications & Advocacy, said:   

“These shocking figures are the devastating reality of Scotland’s persistent housing emergency. We are still seeing the consequences of the failure to deal with the backlog of homelessness and despite the publication of the Cabinet Secretary’s Housing Emergency Action Plan, there is nothing in it that will bring homelessness to an end.   

“The minute decrease in homeless applications and children in temporary accommodation are of course a good thing, but they do not disguise the dangers that remain in Scotland’s broken and biased housing system. We know that people who present to their council as homeless face the prospect of unlawfully being turned away, of spending the night on the streets, and if they are placed in temporary accommodation, it might be unsuitable or unsafe, and they might be stuck there for years. In that scenario, we need to understand if the drop in applications is because councils are doing better, or if it's because people are giving up hope of ever getting a home. 

He added: “In the current climate, the failures of the Home Office and the asylum system are making an already difficult situation for councils worse. It's never been more important that politicians show the public that they can fix the housing system and stop the racists and those that seek to divide us from weaponising the current housing emergency. 

“All of Scotland's politicians know what is needed: deliver a minimum of 15,693 social homes every year so that the local services that can prevent and end homelessness have the tools to do their job.  

“If they choose not to do that, we should expect that the next set of homelessness statistics will be worse yet again.  

“Social homes are not an aspiration. They are indispensable.”