The number of people seeking homelessness assistance has risen by nearly 3000 in a year while  sleeping rough has soared in Scotland's housing and homelessness crisis.

New figures show that the numbers seeking help has risen by 7% from 37,248 in the end of September, 2022 to 40,024 last year.

Some 325 more people were sleeping rough the night before seeking help than the previous year. The numbers have risen from 1,336 to 1,661.

And were  9,860 children living in temporary accommodation on September 30, 2023 – an 8% (735) increase from the previous year.

Housing minister Paul McLennan described the figures as "sobering and demonstrate the challenge we face in tackling homelessness".   He said it had made worse by the UK Government’s local housing allowance freeeze, cuts to the Scottish Government’s budget and the bedroom tax.

Glasgow, Edinburgh and Argyll and Bute councils have all declared a housing emergency in recent months.

The Scottish Tenants Organisation said: "These shameful homelessness statistics for Scotland are proof that the Governments at Westminster and Holyrood stand rightly accused of abandoning homeless men, women and children to penury and destitution.

The Herald: Homelessness

"We cannot stand aside and allow this immoral homeless catastrophe in Scotland to go unchallenged when the Scottish Government continues to make massive cuts to social housing budgets . What is needed is the building of tens of thousands of new social rented homes and bringing back into circulation of some 46,000 empty homes as quality homes for homeless people to be made the highest priority of Government in Scotland."

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, said:: “The Scottish Government’s strategies for housing and homelessness are failing and any attempt to say otherwise is starting to feel like an attempt to gaslight the Scottish public. 

“The Scottish Government can’t claim to be determined to fight poverty while presiding over record homelessness, repeatedly deprioritising housing in its spending choices, and ploughing ahead with a strategy which today’s figures once again clearly show isn’t working. 

“People in Scotland are being denied their housing rights as a matter of course. Indeed, there’s good reason to believe based on the clients we’ve supported that these figures underestimate the true extent of the problem.  

“It’s hard to imagine any other area of the law where the Scottish Government would tolerate such flagrant and frequent law breaking but that’s what is happening when it comes to housing.  

“The ongoing housing emergency in Scotland was not inevitable, it is a result of poor political choices and serious mismanagement across every tier of Government. Anyone who backed that budget can’t expect to be taken seriously in the future when they claim they’re fighting homelessness.” 

It comes as the Scottish housing regulator launched a local authorities intervention over what they have declared as a "systemic failure" in dealing with a homelessness crisis in Scotland.

The body which has powers to protect tenants rights has set engagement plans for two of Scotland's biggest councils, Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council which have both registered housing emergencies.

The body warned ministers in February that there was an "emerging risk of systemic failure" in local authority homelessness services as some councils were finding it "increasingly difficult" to deal with the challenges of providing services for those who are homeless and meet their legal duties.

And it said that tackling the challenges of providing services for those who are homeless and meeting statutory duties may need to be a "principal priority" for the coming period for the Scottish Government, councils and others working to meet the needs of people who are homeless.

The regulator, whose statutory objective is to safeguard and promote the interests of 600,000 tenants who live in homes provided by social landlords, 120,000 property owners and the tens of thousands who experience homelessness, warned that the risk has become a reality.

In a message to minister revealed last month, the regulator has said "added urgency" is needed from the Scottish Government to bring forward measures to respond to the challenges councils are now experiencing.

The regulator said that "systemic failure requires a systemic intervention that is beyond our regulatory powers".

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator for the STO added: "Many thousands of homeless children in Scotland are now condemned to live in overcrowded and substandard conditions in temporary accommodation for long periods of time which is seriously blighting these young lives leading to increased mental and physical illness. We cannot allow this to continue."

Sally Thomas, chief executive at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) said: “With the highest number of open homelessness cases since records began, and another devastating increase in children living in temporary accommodation, Scotland is being plunged ever deeper into a housing crisis. 

“At the same time, the Scottish Government today decided to slash the affordable housing budget by almost £200million, meaning that these dire statistics will likely worsen. 

“We know that up to 20,000 children across Scotland are kept out of poverty because of social housing, but as today’s statistics show, the lives of thousands of others continue to be impacted through the effects of simply growing up without a place to call home.” 

Housing minister Paul McLennan said: "Scotland continues to have the strongest rights anywhere in the UK for anyone who becomes homeless, but we are determined to ensure no one need become homeless in the first place and ensure people can stay in their homes.

“I regularly engage with Scotland’s local authorities and work with them find solutions to the housing pressures they are facing. The Scottish Government is doing all it can by making record funding available to councils of more than £14 billion in 2024-25 – a real-terms increase of 4.3% compared with the previous year. This includes £30.5 million to local authorities to support their work to prevent homelessness, plus £90.5m million to spend on discretionary housing payments. We are also investing £100 million in the multi-year ending homelessness together fund.

“The figures show the introduction of emergency legislation to protect tenants during the cost of living crisis has likely reduced the number of private renters from becoming homeless. When the emergency legislation comes to an end from 31 March we have outlined proposals to continue to give tenants stronger rights than anywhere else in the UK.

“As part of our £752 million Affordable Housing Supply Programme we are investing at least £60m in 2023-24 to enable local authorities and registered social landlords to identify properties to acquire for use as high quality, affordable, permanent homes. We are working closely with them to maximise delivery by the end of this financial year."