Homelessness rises steeply
Impact of asylum policy felt as hotels in city fill up
HOMELESSNESS in Glasgow continues to rise at a massive rate with hundreds more people in hotels in a matter of months.
There are now almost 1400 people being put up in hotels and B& Bs in the city, 75% more than before the start of winter.
Charities report people being turned away for emergency accommodation and people have been forced to sleep on floors in the official Overnight Welcome Centre.
Latest numbers from the council show there were 1390 people in bed and breakfast accommodation on February 1.
This is up from 798 in September last year. Since then the city has had to deal with the UK Government accelerating asylum seeker claims leading to more people being forced out of Home Office provided flats.
The council said it is an emergency and campaigners warn the law is being broken repeatedly.
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “These figures show that we are in the middle of a housing emergency which is exacerbated by Home Office asylum batching.
“We have repeatedly warned the Home Office of the impact in Glasgow of this course of action.
“Instead of engaging with us, they continue to turn a blind eye to the impacts of their decisions, leading to increased numbers of
people accessing our services and increased numbers of people being accommodated in unsuitable accommodation.
“They must come to the table to meet with us so that we can manage their batching in a way which supports those seeking asylum, the communities they are moving in to, and which enables the right accommodation to be provided to them.”
The figures were released under Freedom of Information to Sean Clerkin, campaign co- ordinator for the Scottish Tenants Organisation ( STO).
He said: “The numbers of homeless people being dumped in hellhole hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation has massively increased between September and February.
“All 3654 breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order have occurred in these hotels, meaning the authorities are breaking the law, condemning thousands of vulnerable homeless people to live in squalid and overcrowded conditions.
“Even worse is the fact that for the last year Glasgow City Council has had nearly 2000 instances of refusing households temporary accommodation, again breaking the law with impunity with no penalties involved.”
The STO has called for the Scottish Government to provide extra emergency funding for homeless services in Glasgow and to reverse its nearly £ 200 million cut to the affordable housing budget.
Clerkin added: “We cannot continue to do nothing as this disaster continues to unfold. We need an action plan and extra funding now in Glasgow and throughout Scotland to tackle the housing and homeless emergency.”