The Use of Temporary Accommodation in Scotland - 2015

Taken together these provide an insight into the experiences of homeless households using Temporary Accommodation.

Key findings include:

In 2014-15 local authorities provided an estimated 3.8 million days of temporary accommodation for homeless households, of which just under 1 million were for households with children.

61% of all homeless households spend time in temporary accommodation while the local authority resolves their homeless application.

On average, households using temporary accommodation stayed there for 23 weeks. However, a third of households spend over 6 months there, and 1 in 10 spend over a year in temporary accommodation.

More households without children have very short stays, under 2 weeks, in TA.
Half of all households with children spent over 17 weeks in TA, which was higher than the median for households without children, at 13 weeks.

The types of temporary accommodation used varies dramatically across local authorities: in four local authorities, hostels and bed and breakfast hotels made up over 50% of temporary accommodation provision.