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'Women are at risk': Calls for single sex emergency spaces in Glasgow
On June 9, this year, 322 women were staying among the 40 hotels and B&Bs the council uses for emergency temporary accommodation.
The number has been rising and increased from 271 in June 2024, an 18% rise in almost a year.
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Amid concerns for safety and reports of violence and sexual harassment, organisations have been calling for improved safeguards for women.
Yesterday, the Glasgow Times reported how a woman said she had been physically attacked three times in one hotel and a friend told her she had been raped.
Laura Jones, on behalf of Scottish Tenants Organisation, said there is a ratio of 14 men to one woman in hotels and has a petition being considered at the Scottish Parliament calling for women-only emergency accommodation spaces.
(Image: newsquest)
The petition calls for: 'The Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to reform homeless services in Scotland and ensure services protect women from sexual assault and exploitation by increasing funding and supporting the creation of more women-only homeless accommodation.'
Ms Jones, said: 'There is a clear lack of safeguarding in emergency temporary accommodation in general, but very little attention has been paid to the specific challenges faced by women who are stuck in the homeless system.
"Women are particularly at risk in mixed sex emergency accommodation and the hotels are notorious with increased reports of rapes and sexual assaults.
'We need secure women-only halfway accommodation that meets the specific needs of women with the objective of rapidly placing them in permanent social housing.
'As part of the Glasgow Times End the Homeless Hotel Shame campaign, and with official figures suggesting that the number of families living in homeless hotels and B&Bs quadrupled in 2024, we support calls for more emphasis to be placed on the affordable housing supply budget.'
(Image: newsquest)
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A petition set up by Ms Jones on the same issue has more than 30,000 signatures
Calls have been echoed by Shelter Scotland and Engender, who produced a joint report with recommendations for women-only spaces.
They stated: 'Homelessness services in Scotland often are not equipped to respond appropriately to women's specific needs, particularly around how to support women fleeing domestic abuse.
'In some cases, women are being put at significant risk of harm as a result. This acts as an additional barrier to these women being able to access support and realise their homelessness rights. All local authorities must reassess their homelessness services through a gendered lens and put women's safety at the centre of their approach.
A key recommendation was: 'Local Authorities must seek to increase the supply of Temporary Furnished Flats to prevent the use of B&Bs, hotels and hostels as being used as TA for women and their children.'
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The Scottish Government said it has allocated an extra £2.5m to the Delivering Equally Safe, taking the total to £21.6m for the current year.
THe Petirions Commitee asked for clarification on the allocation of funding.
In a letter to the committee, the Scottish Government stated:The 2025-26 budget provides local government in Scotland with record funding of over £15.1 billion, a real terms increase of 5.5% and this follows on from the real terms increase of 2.5% provided in 2024-25.
"However, the Scottish Government's policy towards local authorities' spending is to allow local authorities the financial freedom to operate independently. As such, the vast majority of funding is provided through the local government finance settlement by means of a block grant.
'It is then the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them, including on women-only homelessness services, on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.'
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: 'The council has rejected the idea of creating single sex bed and breakfast accommodation due to the potential for these establishments being targeted by predatory males.
'In relation to the use of bed and breakfast type accommodation for single women, we have worked with wider partners and the owners of these properties to put in place safeguarding policies that reflect the risks in relation to Violence Against Women and Girls.
'We also work with Police Scotland and the owners of bed and breakfast type accommodation to respond robustly to any risks to women from predatory behaviour.'
