Thanks to AR for alerting me to this.

BBC Scotland’s report, Homeless people living in temporary accommodation hits record high, yesterday, on homelessness increases in Scotland, focusses on one case of a mother and child, the statistics indicating ‘the highest since Scottish government records began in 2002‘ and platforming Miles Briggs, Conservative Housing Spokesperson and Scottish Labour’s Mark Griffin, to say:

Scottish Conservative housing spokesman Miles Briggs said the “scandalous figures should be a source of shame for SNP ministers”. He added: “After 17 years of this failed and distracted SNP government, it is clear that they are part of the problem, not the solution to Scotland’s housing emergency.”

Scottish Labour’s Mark Griffin said: “No amount of SNP spin and deflection can mask the fact that they let homelessness soar and left over 10,000 kids without a permanent home. “Instead of dealing with the housing emergency taking grip in Scotland, the SNP fanned its flamed by slashing the affordable housing budget and letting housebuilding plummet.”

They do not give the actual data, which are:

There were 33,619 households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness. An increase of 1,088 (3%) compared to 2022-23, and the highest since 2011-12.

I’ll come back to the BBC claim that the data are the highest since 2002 and not 2012 as the Scottish Government suggest but, first, is that more than a thousand ‘Scots?’

See this:

As we warned when Glasgow declared a Housing Emergency last year, the Home Office’s mass processing of asylum seekers has had a huge impact on our homelessness figures & consequently Scotland’s. I’ve written to @YvetteCooperMP to ask her to urgently change @ukgov approach pic.twitter.com/8vOtH6YRL0

— Susan Aitken (@SusaninLangside) September 24, 2024

An overall increase of 1 088 in a year when the Home Office allowed more than 1 300 immigrants entry, so homelessness fell among all but very recent arrivals?

There’s no mention of this key factor in the media reporting.

The trend:

There were 29,652 open homelessness cases in March 2024, which was a 15% rise on last year. There were around 58 000 cases in 2006, the last year of the Labour Government in Scotland.

Homelessness applications were almost twice as high under Labour/Lib Dems in 2006

The comparison:

Record homeless figures in England prompt calls to tackle ‘national scandal’. Latest housing data show 151,630 children in temporary accommodation – the most since records began. Shelter, the housing charity, said the government must “tackle the housing emergency head-on”. 

From Shelter Scotland in a submission to the Scottish Parliament, January 2024:

We are in a housing emergency, and that requires an emergency response from government. A record 9,595 children trapped in temporary accommodation – up 130% since 2014.

All things being equal, England with 10 times the population might have been expected to have 10 times as many children in temporary accommodation or 95 950 but had 151 630. That’s 55 680 more than if they had an SNP Government, or 58% more.

Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/aug/08/record-homeless-figures-in-england-prompt-calls-to-tackle-national-scandal

Click to access shelter-scotland-written-submission–homelessness-and-temporary-accommodation.pdf