‘Council has lost track of homeless’

A “SIGNIFICANT number” of rough sleepers in Dundee have been “lost” by the council, Scotland’s housing regulator said.

Warnings of a rise in the number of people applying for help to the local authority and those losing contact with people working with the city’s homeless, have been detailed in a report compiled by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR).

The SHR said there was a noteworthy number of rough sleepers lost to view by the council and acknowledged measures were being taken to reintroduce contact between vulnerable people and the authorities.

The report was due to go before the council’s scrutiny committee today.

Alison Watson, deputy director of Shelter Scotland, said: “This report highlights some important areas for action and improvement for Dundee’s vital local homelessness services. We are encouraged the council has recognised these challenges and is committed to listening to the views of people with lived experience of homelessness to continually improve these local services.”

In its report, the SHR said: “There are a significant number of rough sleepers and a high number of people with whom the council l oses contact across its homeless services.

“The council has decreased the number of allocations it makes to homeless people and the number of people waiting for an outcome has increased significantly this year.

“The council has recently undertaken a number of actions to help address the homelessness issues. It has introduced a central location for crisis applications, begun work to improve its lost contacts, is working with partners to contact rough sleepers in the city and has revisited its homelessness allocations targets.”

A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “The council has recently introduced a number of actions to help address homelessness issues.”

The council has pledged to provide 100 homes for rough sleepers as part of a “game changing” social initiative.

The local authority has also said it will contribute to Social Bite’s 600 Homes Campaign, which aims to tackle Scotland’s homelessness problem, by making 100 properties in the city available to rough sleepers.

Over the next two years, the programme will aim to provide homes and support to 600 people in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee.

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A homeless person in Dundee city centre.