Legislation aimed at ending homelessness could increase the number of people in temporary accommodation, the Housing Minister has conceded.
From December 31, councils have to provide settled accommodation to anyone who becomes unintentionally homeless.
The new requirement means there "may be more people in the short term in temporary accommodation" such as flats, hostels, bedsits or bed-and-breakfast accommodation, Margaret Burgess said.
But they would get permanent accommodation as part of the 2012 homelessness commitment, she stressed.
The Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act, passed by Holyrood in 2003, abolishes the priority-need test for homelessness. This has seen some people, generally families with children, regarded as being in greater need of accommodation than others.
The removal of the priority-need test will give an estimated 3000 more people a year the right to settled accommodation.
Ms Burgess, who has worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau, said: "What we are saying is if you are homeless through no fault of your own – homeless is homeless – you should be entitled to permanent accommodation.
"There may be more people, in the short term, in temporary accommodation until they can get permanent accommodation, but they will get permanent accommodation. That's key to this."
The legislation has had an impact "because in most local authorities people who are homeless through no fault of their own are being assessed as entitled to settled homeless accommodation, and that's what the homeless commitment is about. It's about removing the barrier where there were two types of homelessness: priority and non-priority". But she said she was concerned about the impact of Westminster's welfare reforms.
Statutory homelessness applications in Scotland have fallen 19%, from 55,663 in 2010-11 to 45,322 in 2011-12. Rough sleeping is also decreasing.
Ms Burgess said the Scottish Government was doing everything possible to mitigate against the impact of changes to the benefits system and "ensure we don't have people becoming homeless as a result of welfare reform".
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