ROUGH sleeping is now "almost nonexistent" in Scotland as a result of interventions during the coronavirus crisis, MSPs have been told.
Claire Frew, policy and impact manager at Homeless Network Scotland, said one estimate suggested there are now less than 30 people sleeping on the streets.
In Glasgow, this could be down to single figures.
Research previously indicated the annual number of rough sleepers in 2017 was around 5,300, with a nightly snapshot estimate of just over 700.
Ms Frew said significant funding had gone towards making use of empty hotel rooms during the coronavirus pandemic.
Giving evidence to Holyrood's Equalities and Human Rights Committee, she said this was initially largely in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
She added: "But local authorities all across the country were trying to take advantage of the fact that nobody was staying in any hotels, to use that to literally either get people off the streets and also to reduce the capacity in some of our bigger accommodation projects, just to disperse people.
"I think it's really important to note that that intervention in itself has meant that rough sleeping is almost now nonexistent on the streets of Scotland."
Ms Frew said there had been "a massive, massive step forward".
She said: "You can never put number on these things because they change every day.
"But one of the latest estimates we heard across the country is that there [were] less than 30 people who were potentially sleeping rough.
"Here in Glasgow that could be down to single figures, which just shows you what you can do with a massive intervention and just with the urgency behind it."
She said what comes next is the "big question".
She added: "We cannot lose the progress that we have made.
"But if you were to walk the streets of cities now you would see almost nobody sleeping on the streets, which has been quite an achievement."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel