Swinney urged to act over 'disastrous' rise in Glasgow street sleepers

The Herald Scotland

03-05-2025

Now campaigners have written to John Swinney asking for his intervention in the rough sleeping 'crisis' which comes after the city declared a housing emergency in November 2023.
There are also concerns that things could get even worse with the closure of a homeless shelter and support hub in Glasgow which supporters say are placing 33 vulnerable people back onto the streets every single night.
The facility, operated by Homeless Project Scotland in Glassford Street since December 2023, is purported to be the only source of hot food for up to 350 people every day.
It comes as the Glasgow City Council refused planning permission for the 24-hour shelter.
The Scottish Tenants Organisation, which has been tracking the numbers sleeping rough, has called for urgent action from the First Minister about the soaring numbers or people sleeping rough saying: "The increasing numbers rough sleeping in Glasgow is a complete disaster. We need the intervention of the First Minister so that the Scottish Government can give better funding to Glasgow to deal with all the problems related to homelessness in the city."
Glasgow declared a housing emergency while the numbers seeking council help for homelessness rose by 27% since before the Covid pandemic from 6074 in 2019/20 to 7725 in 2023/24.
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The Herald previously revealed that the UK's immigration system is being plunged into uncertainty as Glasgow has sought to pull the plug on the acceptance of asylum seekers as the taxpayer costs of dealing with refugees are set to treble in three years.
Costs in the Glasgow area alone are snowballing from an estimated £26.5m in 2024/25 to a projected £79m in 2027/28 and the city council has been seeing urgent financial support from UK ministers to deal with the influx caused they say by a speeded up asylum dispersal process to address a significant backlog of UK-wide immigration decisions and reduce the numbers of applicants.
Refugees make up around 41% of Glasgow homelessness applications - who have a right to at the very least makeshift emergency accommodation - with councils becoming increasingly reliant on hotels and bed and breakfasts.
Glasgow, while in the midst of a housing emergency, has become the number one UK hotspot for acceptance of asylum seekers caused in the main by a north-south divide in the law over how they are treated.
The city was the UK local authority with the most housed asylum seekers with over 4,193, or around 67 per 10,000 residents. Across the UK there are typically just 16 asylum seekers per 10,000 of population.
Some 70% of the 6,057 asylum seekers being housed in Scotland are being supported in the nation's biggest city, with 30% running across 21 of the 31 remaining Scots local authorities.
A study by the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (GCHSCP) - which administers social care, addiction, homelessness support, child protection and criminal justice services - warns that there were "unprecedented numbers" of refugees travelling to Glasgow from outwith the city, from mainly Belfast, Manchester and London, with 650 recorded in January 2024 alone.
And the number of homelessness applications in Glasgow from people who have been granted refugee status or the leave to remain in the country has doubled in a year from 1384 in 2022/23 to 2,709 in 2023/24.
John Swinney (Image: Duncan McGlynn) The STO has written to the First Minister asking for his intervention in the wake of the "shocking" increase in the numbers of people that are forced to sleep rough, saying that the Scottish Government needs to plough more money into Glasgow to tackle the crisis.
They say: "We demand from you that you make tackling the housing and homeless emergency your number immediate one priority and to make Glasgow a special case for extra resources to eradicate rough sleeping. Nothing else will do."
It has also said that the refusal of planning permission for the shelter by the council is "cruel and vindictive based on nothing more than prejudice and disdain for homeless people in Glasgow".
Campaigners believe that the rough sleeping numbers could be even worse, as many are not seeking council help and so would not declare that they were sleeping rough.
Tenants' rights group Living Rent said in response to the rise in rough sleepers: "Our politicians have fallen asleep at the wheel. Despite declaring a housing emergency in 2023, Glasgow City Council continues to fail in its responsibility to house its residents. It is clear the government needs to step in."
Homeless Project Scotland say that the "deeply shocking" council decision over its facility cites 'fear of crime' and 'obstruction of footways' as reasons to shut down the service – "despite the "overwhelming humanitarian need" it meets in the heart of Glasgow".
The shelter organisers say that it is operated with no funding from council tax payers and is run entirely by dedicated volunteers who they say work around the clock to protect those society has left behind.
Colin McInnes, of the project, said that "people will die as a result of the decision" as there was no alternative provision.
The project has called on the Scottish Government to step in to "protect the rights and lives of homeless people".
Homeless Project Scotland (Image: Colin Mearns) Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the STO added: "The increase in rough sleeping in Glasgow is a testament to the catastrophic failure of the authorities to deal with homelessness in recent years resulting in an increase in men and women living in abject destitution.
"A housing revolution has to occur in Glasgow with the Scottish Government injecting tens of millions of pounds extra into the city so that the city council can directly build thousands of good quality public sector homes including temporary accommodation for men, women and children so that no one sleeps rough on the streets of Glasgow."
Glasgow City Council has confirmed that progress to address homelessness in the city has been classified as red, which indicates major slippage due to the challenges.
And the owners of hotels that used to house homeless people in Glasgow have seen a huge increase in income from the council.
In the last year, from April 2024 to March 2025, the council paid more than £45 million to private hotels and B&B owners in the city. In 2023/24 it was £26,724,422.
Living Rent secretary Ruaraidh Dempster added: "The Housing Bill offers a huge opportunity to help combat the homelessness crisis. Strong, effective rent controls that bring down rents would ensure that people are not being forced into homelessness.
"But the government needs to go further. Tenants need stronger protections against eviction and greater support to stay put. And the government needs to deliver more social housing, through more funding for stock buy back and for social and council house building programmes, to ensure people have a stable, secure, long-term place to live.
"Scotland has the resources. The failure to combat homelessness is a choice that our politicians continue to make. It is time they took action and committed to solving the housing and homelessness crisis."
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "We have been clear about the pressures facing Glasgow and we remain in contact with both Governments about these pressures.'
Paul McLennan, housing minister (Image: Together/NQ/BD) Housing minister Paul McLennan said: 'This year we have targeted funding of £40m to local authorities with sustained temporary accommodation pressures, taking our investment in affordable housing to £768m. In 2025-26 we are providing Glasgow City Council with over £1.68bn to fund local services, including homelessness services - an additional 5.5% compared to 2024-25.
'Night shelters do not provide a safe or dignified way for people at risk of rough sleeping to receive support and we are committed to phasing out this type of accommodation in Scotland. We have provided over £1.2m of funding since 2020 to support the delivery of rapid rehousing welcome centres as an alternative to night shelters in Glasgow and Edinburgh over winter. In 2024-25 we provided £87,141 to ensure additional supportive measures were in place to support people at risk of rough sleeping in Glasgow.
'We have also provided over £256,000 of personalised budget funding to third sector organisations across Scotland since 2020 so staff can provide people who are rough sleeping with support in a dignified and person-centred way.'