Report by Rachelle Money

STANDING in the shadows of Tradeston is a derelict sandstone building. Scattered across the landings are rolls of fabric, an old Singer sewing machine, boxes of ceramic tiles and children's clothes, rotten and soaked from the wind and rain coming through smashed windows. On each floor there are remnants of life: an old snooker table with a rag draped over it, some blankets covering a chair and scorch marks from a burnt-out fire. Where once people worked, this is now where Glasgow's homeless come to bed down for the night.

Just a few weeks ago this building was so full, homeless people were turning other homeless people away.

On the third floor, underneath the stairs which lead to the roof, is a 10ft by 4ft room, with a tiny window. The room is home to Tracey, 26, and Joseph, 35, who have been sleeping rough in Glasgow for nearly three years.

Just yards away is the Hamish Allan Centre, a Glasgow City Council-run emergency accommodation centre for homeless people. Tracey and Joseph said they have been there many times asking for help. They can't get social security benefits because they don't have an address so they go to the Hamish Allan Centre, where staff struggle to refer them on because there are so few places in the city that can accommodate couples.

"It's a catch 22," said Joseph. "How are you meant to get out of that?" He has been homeless for 18 years after his parents split up and he fell into a cycle of drug abuse and prison, although for the past seven years he has been on the methadone programme.

Tracey and Joseph are victims of a radically-changing approach to homelessness. The council has been working for five years on decommissioning large-scale hostels in a bid to stop the "warehousing" of homeless people, and create smaller, more specialist projects with supported accommodation which help deal with alcohol addiction, drugs and mental health. However, the Sunday Herald has been told these new emergency accommodation services are not being made available quickly enough, leaving the most vulnerable to fend for themselves.

The Sunday Herald spoke to three sources who work closely with the homeless community in Glasgow. They have all asked to remain anonymous for fear of having funding for their projects cut or being reprimanded for speaking out.

A frontline staff member who works with the homeless said the current situation is the worst he has seen in 15 years.

"The public have had the wool pulled over their eyes. I used to be able to put a roof over someone's head and now I can't. Before, I could send someone to Bell Street a male hostel which is now closed; even though I didn't agree with the big hostels, at least I could put a roof over their head for that night.

""The closure of the large-scale hostels means they're being replaced with small projects but we can't access them just now. I'm sending people away to the night shelter, which is going to be closed soon, or telling them to make their own arrangements. There are people skippering squatting in derelict buildings because it's drier than under the bridge."

Our sources have also told us that between 20 and 30 people are being turned away from the Hamish Allan Centre every day. Some are sent to the Laurieston Centre, a night shelter where people can sit on a chair for the evening. It is run by the Salvation Army in partnership with Glasgow City Council, which has funded the project for more than three years at a cost of £5440 a week via the Rough Sleepers Initiative funding. This funding was planned to stop on March 31, but has now been extended to the end of May.

The Sunday Herald has been told that because the Laurieston only operates Monday to Friday, if someone presents as homeless at the weekend and there is no emergency accommodation available, such as B&Bs or hostel beds, they are told to "make their own arrangements" - a direct breach of Glasgow City Council's statutory obligation to offer temporary accommodation.

"It's criminal," said the frontline staff member. "Some of the service users throw a wobbly because then they can be arrested and at least that's a roof over their head."

He added: "When they closed the first hostel, Laidlaw House, we were told they'd bring on small-scale projects with instant access, but we haven't seen one project that's direct access. Some of our service users have to jump through hoops to get into some of these specialist projects and even then there's no guarantee they'll get in."

Major Ivor Telfer, west Scotland divisional commander for the Salvation Army, which runs the Laurieston night service in South Portland Street, said it is regularly at full capacity with around 25 people using the service each night.

"At the Laurieston Centre we help people who are at their lowest. It is a service that's allowed us the opportunity to help people access different services and work towards their own tenancy.

"If we have to stop the service altogether we're worried people will end up sleeping rough on the streets. We've given seven staff members their redundancy notices and we're now making phone calls trying to get the funding we need to stay open. The council has never pulled the wool over our eyes, we always knew our funding was for three years, but we don't want to see it close."

Telfer also said he hasn't been informed of the alternative services to direct people to if the Laurieston closes.

Another source who works for a voluntary organisation in the city, said the threat to Laurieston has sparked "real concerns" over the lack of available emergency beds.

"Without adequate emergency beds people could find themselves in a position where they have to sleep rough, particularly remembering that it was in recognition of the high levels of rough sleeping in the city and the failure of the hostels to address homelessness that heralded the hostel closure programme in the first place."

He said the planning of the hostel closures had been good, but that the delivery of new projects has been too slow.

"It's a political game," he said. "Glasgow City Council has had a lot of money to address rough sleeping, and for the hostel closure, and it wants to show a return that things are considerably better.

"There's nowhere for people to go - no room at the inn - and they end up coming to the Hamish Allan Centre in the morning and the beds are already full, so there's very little point in people going to the Hamish Allan Centre. But then, if they aren't presenting they aren't being counted, so then the numbers look better on paper."

He said these concerns had been raised with Glasgow City Council but that there was "a lot of denial" about the current situation.

An insider at the council said: "I'm not singing the praises of hostels, it's right that they were closed. But they've been closed down without taking into account what's happening on the streets, and without listening to the staff who work closely with the homeless.

"A few months ago you could use around 14 B&B accommodations, and some have been shut down for good reasons, but now they only have five to accommodate all these people in Glasgow and now the Laurieston's closing, it's scandalous. It's getting shut because other services are supposed to be coming online but where are they?

"I'm being told by clients that they have to go to the Hamish Allan Centre where at 9am they might be lucky and get a B&B cancellation; if not, it's back to the Laurieston and if that's full then these people have to make their own arrangements.

"Glasgow City Council has a legal responsibility to house anyone on a temporary basis who are homeless, and at the moment it isn't doing it."

He went on to say the system was "not fit for purpose".

"They created this nightmare. Glasgow is in a situation where the council doesn't have its own housing stock, it has to go to the GHA Glasgow Housing Association or voluntary sector for housing. The whole system is a shambles."

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said its Street Team has investigated the building where Tracey and Joseph are and identified "most of the individuals affected" and are working to link them in with services.

In response to the allegations made by our sources, the council spokesman said: "The service is still in transition stages and we are well aware that the availability of emergency accommodation is very tight. We are also aware of the concern this is causing. However, we are working hard to deal with this."

He went on to say: "Over the last three months the average number of people referred to the Laurieston Centre, which is open from Monday to Friday, has been 18 a night. In many of these cases we will have met our statutory obligation to provide temporary accommodation and, for one reason or another, the person may have lost this accommodation."

When asked when new services and accommodation would open, he admitted three projects which were expected to open by March 31 had "encountered some difficulties".

"When we became aware that these projects were experiencing difficulties we looked for alternatives and the following will be available over the next eight weeks: "Twenty-one rooms will be available as 24/7 staffed emergency accommodation in the west of the city by the end of April.

"Eighteen rooms will be available as 24/7 staffed accommodation in the south of the city by the end of April.

"Forty additional temporary furnished flats will be made available across the city as part of an arrangement with a private sector landlord. These will be made available during May.

"Thirty additional temporary furnished flats will also be made available in the northwest of the city and will also be available for use from May."