A MOTHER of three who has been forced to sleep on a sofa despite having arthritis has spoken out about her family being “stuck in limbo for a year” after new figures revealed that more than 7,000 children were living in temporary accommodation when the Covid-19 crisis began.

Statistics released by the Scottish Government revealed that 31,333 households were assessed as homeless in 2019/20 - a four per cent increase on the previous year – while 7,280 children were being sheltered in temporary accommodation as of March 31 – a seven per cent rise on the same time the previous year and the highest number since records began 18 years ago.

Campaigners have called for the Scottish Government to "uphold their promises to homeless people" amid fears of a "long-term crisis" amid fears more people have bene forced into homelessness during the pandemic .

A mother named Angela, who is living in a two-bed temporary flat in Glasgow with her children aged seven, 10 and 12, has been forced to sleep on a sofa for almost a year.

READ MORE: Highest ever number of children in temporary accommodation as homelessness on the rise

Angela has been told she faces a wait of up to four years for a property the right size and feels “unable to move forward with my life”.

She added: “My older children have autism and need their own rooms.

“I can sometimes have my youngest sleep in the same room as her older sister but if we have a bad night when her sister is distressed, she will sleep up on a blow up bed in the living room. I’m always on the couch which is terrible for my arthritis.”

The Herald:

Angela’s children have been unable to reclaim their belongings, which remain in storage.

She added: “We’ve been stuck in limbo for a year. If we could move into a permanent home we could start living again.

“We feel like we’re stuck in a place we shouldn’t be. I’m literally just clinging on and living day to day praying things will change.”

Glasgow had the highest number of homeless households in 2019/20 - with 5,262 and 17 per cent of Scotland’s total and a 12 per cent rise from the previous year. In Edinburgh, 3,355 households were homeless – a five per cent rise in the space of a year.

Local authorities are required by law to offer temporary accommodation to homeless households – but during 2019/20, Glasgow City Council did not offer the shelter on 3,835 occasions – whereas across Scotland, the number was 4,595.

Edinburgh City Council breached unsuitable accommodation laws, where a pregnant woman or a child is in unsuitable accommodation for more than seven days, 375 times out of 500 breaches across Scotland.

Shelter Scotland's assistant director for communications and advocacy, Gordon MacRae, said: “These figures show that Scotland’s homelessness system was failing people even before the pandemic hit.

“Now is the time for ministers to uphold their promises to homeless people. Government and local authorities must urgently step up and significantly increase the supply of suitable accommodation."

Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “The figures are a reminder about why we are committed to ending homelessness and rough sleeping. "They do not reflect the progress made to dramatically reduce the numbers of people sleeping rough during the Covid-19 pandemic."