How can we fix soaring homelessness in Scotland?

This is all driven by the lack of truly affordable housing, the high cost of housing, stagnant wages, jobs that don’t pay enough and zero-hours contracts. Add in austerity (and the prospect of many more years of it), welfare reform and the flawed Universal Credit system and you get a perfect storm that will drive more vulnerable people into poverty, where they will struggle to make ends meet and be at risk of losing their home.

Don’t we have a system in Scotland for helping people who fall on hard times? Don’t we have world-recognised homelessness legislation that gives every unintentionally homeless person a right to settled accommodation? We do. However, legislation in itself is not the answer. It must be accompanied by resources and political will to make it work. That’s where the problem lies.

Despite strong laws and policy improvements over the past decade, there is still a postcode lottery of homelessness service where the gap between what is written in law and what actually happens on the ground is still far too wide. Our evidence of this is clear: last year 21,000 people came to us for help and our legal and services teams are spending more and more of their time enforcing people's housing rights, despite local authorities having a clear duty to deliver these.

As reported in last week’s Sunday Herald, there is evidence that homeless people are being denied the emergency temporary accommodation the law says they have a right to. Our Time for Change group – – was set up to specifically counter this issue, by advocating for homeless people they are helping them enforce their rights to get a roof over their head.

But it is simply not right that it is easier for homeless people to access accommodation and support by turning to a charity such as Shelter Scotland for help, rather than their local authority directly. What barriers are in place, intentional or not, and why are people seemingly being denied their rights to accommodation?

The increase in rough sleepers on our streets is just the tip of the iceberg. Last year there were 34,100 homeless applications in Scotland, there are currently more than 10,500 households in temporary accommodation and this Christmas morning more than 6,000 children in Scotland will wake up without a permanent home – a 10-year high. Unknown numbers are sofa surfing with friends and families as they don’t have, or cannot afford, a home of their own.

On a national level, to tackle this complex situation head-on and as a matter of urgency, we have been campaigning for real leadership and action across local and national government. The new Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group and the commitment of £50 million to support its recommendations is a positive move by the Scottish Government. The challenge now is for meaningful action to deliver real change for those already facing or experiencing the human tragedy of homelessness.

A major programme to build the 12,000 truly affordable homes we need each year accompanied by properly resourced homelessness services are both essential if Scotland is serious about tackling its housing and homelessness crisis.

As this crisis continues to tighten its grip on thousands of households across Scotland – many are families with children – that’s when the work of our frontline services remains absolutely critical. Last year we helped more than 21,000 households. This year we will continue to do all we can to make sure no-one is left to fight homelessness on their own. But we cannot achieve this alone; we urgently need the public’s support to be there for everyone who needs us this winter and beyond.

Please donate to support our work and you can join our campaign and the fight to fix homelessness by visiting shelterscotland.org/farfromfixed

Graeme Brown is Director of Shelter Scotland