Glasgow council failed in legal duty to homeless, says regulator
GLASGOW City Council “failed” in its legal duties to homeless people by not ensuring there was enough suitable temporary accommodation for them before the coronavirus pandemic, an inquiry has found.
The Scottish Housing Regulator inquiry into the council’s services for people concluded that the council did not provide temporary accommodation to significant numbers of people when they needed it.
During 2019/20, the council told the regulator that it failed to offer temporary accommodation on 3,786 instances when households required it – an increase of 445 on the previous year.
The regulator said this meant the council “failed” to comply with its “statutory duty” to offer temporary accommodation in nearly one in three occasions when people required it.
Its report said single people were “disproportionately affected” and accounted for 66% of homeless applications and for 83% of those not offered temporary accommodation.
The inquiry found that in some cases the people not accommodated were vulnerable and had approached the council for accommodation on multiple occasions.
The council also reported breaching the Unsuitable Accommodation Order in 2019/20, with 80 of its placements in temporary accommodation.
Shelter Scotland claimed there was “alarming evidence of families with children being turned away without the council knowing where they would sleep that night, and of single people being sent to sleep on the streets with the council’s knowledge.
Glasgow City Council denied that families had been turned away.
The charity said that, while the report reflects some positive developments – 17 new staff have been hired in recent months and an increase in the number of lets from housing association has made a real difference during the pandemic – “it’s clear that the that the council was seriously failing before coronavirus hit”.
The inquiry was announced last year after Shelter Scotland launched legal action against Glasgow City Council over its practice of “gatekeeping”, where people who present as homeless are refused their legal rights.
Commenting on the report, Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: “This report confirms the systemic failure of Glasgow City Council’s homelessness services, which has led to thousands of people being denied their legal rights.
“We’ll now take the time to carefully reflect on the report and assess what needs to happen next. We welcome the regulator’s findings and recommendations and look forward to meeting to discuss the issues further. The test will be how Glasgow City Council responds positively to this unprecedented intervention.”
The regulator said: “Prior to the pandemic there was a disconnect between the council’s stated strategy and policy on homelessness and the practice in its service delivery about meeting its legal duties in relation to temporary accommodation. Notwithstanding its work to increase the pool of temporary furnished accommodation in previous years, the council did not have enough suitable temporary accommodation to meet the need from people who approached it with nowhere to stay.”
A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “We welcome this report from the regulator and their recognition that improvements have been made to our homelessness service in spite of the challenges we face.
“The service has improved in several areas, including preventing the cycle of repeat homelessness. However, our biggest challenge remains our access to temporary accommodation. This cannot be solved overnight. The council does not have its own housing stock, so we will continue to work with the city’s 68 Registered Social Landlords (RSLS) and City Building to bring quality temporary accommodation back into use as quickly as possible.”