Homeless charity moves in as problem Far From Fixed

Campaign: Figures released by council sparks campaign to raise awareness

Homelessness figures for the Highland Council area have resulted in Shelter Scotland taking its campaign to Inverness.

Highland Council had 510 applications from households who were homeless or threatened with homelessness in the six months leading up to September last year.

And on one night 613 households, including 239 children, were in temporary accommodation.

As a result the charity’s Far From Fixed campaign will go to the city today to raise public and political support to try to ease the growing problem.

Shelter has called Scotland’s

“Time for good rhetoric and resting on our laurels is over”

current level of homelessness a national badge of shame for one of the world’s richest nations.

It has accused local and national government of taking their eye off the ball in recent years on efforts to tackle and prevent homelessness.

The campaign urges members of the public and politicians to sign up to its demands of local and national government.

Shelter Scotland released new research by YouGov which showed 75% of people in the country agrees that homelessness is a problem and that 54% agree the Scottish Government could do more to tackle it. The campaign is calling for a safe and affordable home for everyone, help for everyone to keep or find a home and a strong housing safety net to catch vulnerable people.

It is further demanding that no one should ever have to sleep rough on Scotland’s streets.

Alison Watson, deputy director of Shelter Scotland, said: “It’s shameful that each year there are thousands of people sleeping rough on our streets, that there are thousands more hidden homeless people sofa surfing with friends and that tomorrow morning more than 5,700 children in Scotland will wake up in temporary accommodation without a permanent home of their own. Shelter Scotland thinks that the time for good rhetoric and resting on our laurels is over. We need to face up to the reality that despite good progress in recent years, we are still failing too many people in our society, particularly the most vulnerable, with the most basic of human rights, the right to shelter and a home.”

A giant snakes and ladders-style board game along with giant dice will be set up at Eastgate today.

It will illustrate how life events affect people’s ability to keep a roof over their head and that homelessness can happen to anyone.

People will be urged to play the game and sign up to the campaign’s aims.

REALITY: Homelessness is still a big problem in many of Scotland’s cities and Shelter Scotland is today highlighting the problem