Glasgow has been presented with an "impossible challenge" to meet a legal duty to find accommodation for hundreds of homeless refugees who have now been granted asylum but are still to find a home.

It has emerged that the council is dealing with more than 400 refugee households who have been given a positive Home Office decision to stay in the country but have not been found a place to stay.

The city council has been searching for alternative temporary accommodation because of a shortage of hotel rooms and has looked at using vacant nursing and care homes as it seeks to deal with the households who have to leave accommodation provided by housing company Mears to accommodate those who are seeking asylum.

It has emerged that the council has already housed 650 which have been accommodated in hotels and bed and breakfasts.

It comes in the wake of the council making a symbolic housing emergency declaration in the wake of concerns over social unrest following moves to accelerate the clearance of a backlog of asylum claims by the Home Office.

Meanwhile housing campaigners Shelter Scotland have accused the Scottish Government of ignoring warnings on the severity of the housing emergency for more than a year.

The council has been considering legal action against the Home Office as it fears it will breach the law through being unable to cope with the backlog.

READ MORE: Appeal for more Glasgow homes to let in homelessness 'meltdown'

When an asylum seeker gets leave to remain in the UK, they are given 28 days to leave accommodation that is provided by Mears while seeking assistance from the local authority under homelessness legislation.

With refugee status, they have the same rights to emergency and settled accommodation as any other household. 

The Home Office set plans to make an estimated 2,500 batched asylum decisions in Glasgow by the end of 2023, which could cost the council more than £53m.

Glasgow's SNP-led council predicted that some 1,800 were expected to have leave to remain.
Jim McBride, head of homelessness and complex needs at Glasgow City Council has told ministers of the "impossible challenge" the city now faces.

He said: "We are working with them on a daily basis. We are at a crossroads. It is presenting serious difficulty for us to manage alternative accommodation options.

"It is going to present an impossible challenge for us to manage the alternative accommodation options just now. We are finding that the ability to find hotel accommodation is extremely pressed.  We are now at a stretching point where we are finding it difficult to continue to manage."

The Herald: Homelessness

He said that short term funding was "crucial" to allow some "breathing space to provide accommodation.  But officials have been told that the UK government will not provide financial support.

Councils have a legal obligation to offer temporary accommodation when they assess a person or household as unintentionally homeless.

The number of refugee households that have been referred to homeless support services in Greater Glasgow, having been granted leave to remain since the start of the year, has soared from 45 in January to 176 in October.

There were 132 in the first three weeks of November. As many as 1000 refugee households have been referred to homelessness support services since the start of the year.
Edinburgh officially declared a housing emergency at the start of the month becoming the first city in Scotland to do so while seeking urgent funding from the Scottish Government to help meet “severe challenges”.

Edinburgh and Glasgow officials have appeared before a Scottish Parliamentary committee to explain the crisis.

Edinburgh officially declared a housing emergency in November becoming the first city in Scotland to do so while seeking urgent funding from the Scottish Government to help meet “severe challenges”.

Figures showed approximately 5,000 households in the capital are in temporary accommodation – the highest number in Scotland.

In June, Argyll and Bute Council declared a housing emergency citing a rise in homelessness post-pandemic and an increasing lack of choice.

The Herald:

Glasgow City Council concerns surfaced while the number of people in the UK waiting for a decision on their asylum claims had risen to a record high. The UK government set targets to clear the so-called 'legacy backlog' by the end of 2023.

Shelter Scotland said that Scottish Government budgets are not taking account of the "unprecedented" housing emergency.

Shelter Scotland assistant director Gordon MacRae, said:  "That housing emergency is being driven by a lack of social homes, and while the housing minister is willing to say the right things the Scottish Government must be judged on actions not words.

“Voices from across the housing sector, including ourselves at Shelter Scotland, the Scottish Housing Regulator, and local authorities have been warning that the situation is beyond critical for over a year now so ministers can’t plead ignorance."

“We offer ample support once claims have been granted through Migrant Help, access to the labour market and advice on applying for Universal Credit.”

The council said it was doing a "lot of work" to assess all the possibilities for dealing with the crisis

A spokesman said: "Homelessness services and the council’s housing team are working to develop an action plan that will be used internally to explore and progress implementing solutions that will alleviate the housing and homelessness pressures that Glasgow is currently experiencing. 

"The action plan will be progressed in line with the available staff and financial resources that are available.

"Ultimately, the housing system in Glasgow is experiencing a range of significant pressures that relate to housing and homelessness need, and there is an insufficient supply of homes that are available.  This is likely to be the case for the foreseeable future. 

"Apart from the impact on the people who urgently require access to housing (particularly homeless and refugee households), there is a recognition that the housing system in the city requires further investment to increase the supply of affordable and market (homes for private rent and for sale) housing to address the emergency.

"The  council will be continuing to engage with registered social landlords, the housing sector and Scottish Government and other partners going forward."

Housing Minister Paul McLennan said: “The Scottish Government has led the UK in housing by delivering approximately 130,000 affordable homes since 2007, over 89,000 of which were for social rent, including almost 24,000 council homes. We will invest £556 million in 2024-25 to increase the delivery of more affordable homes, the majority of which will be for social rent, including supporting acquisitions of existing properties.

“However, the UK Government failed to inflation-proof their capital budget, and this has resulted in nearly a 10% real terms cut in our UK capital funding between 2023-24 and 2027-28. This is on top of the disastrous impact Brexit has had on construction supply chain issues, labour shortages and the inflationary pressures driven by UK Government financial mismanagement.

“We remain focused on delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and to support that we will bring forward the review scheduled for 2026-27 to 2024, which will concentrate on deliverability.

“In addition, we are accelerating work with the financial community in Scotland, and elsewhere, to boost private sector investment and help deliver more homes.”