Scotland's housing emergency declaration has been declared a "sham" as breaches of the law ensuring the homeless including children and pregnant mothers are given some kind of roof over their heads have doubled in a year.
New analysis of council returns described as "shocking" by campaigners shows that Scots local authorities have incurred nearly 40,000 violations over the last eight years with nearly half in the past year - and without penalty.
There were 16,485 breaches in 2024/25 alone, more than the previous five years combined as violations have rocketed in a housing emergency declared by ministers in May last year.
And it has emerged that the number of breaches in Glasgow have quadrupled since it was the subject of legal action by housing campaigners five years ago over "disregarding the law with impunity". Campaigners say further action "is necessary" to ensure the homeless get their legal rights and prevent councils being allowed to break the law.
The development comes despite the Scottish Housing Regulator placing Glasgow and Edinburgh under particular scrutiny last year over "systemic failures" as both local authorities declared a housing emergency.
The regulator said in response to the new concerns: "Systemic failure requires a systemic intervention, and our regulatory powers do not extend to intervention at the systemic level."
Last year, the Scottish Government joined 13 councils in declaring a symbolic housing emergency with First Minister John Swinney saying: “What we want to do is to reach out to other parties and to recognise the significance of the challenge that exists.”
It took 16 months for the housing secretary Màiri McAllan to produce an emergency action plan. Revealed a fortnight ago, its centrepiece was a £4.9 billion pledge to tackle Scotland's affordable housing shortages. But it has been judged to be £1.7bn short of what experts say is required to meet the nation's needs.
Housing support groups Living Rent and the Scottish Tenants Organisation say the new analysis shows that the emergency declarations were a "sham" and "simply a meaningless stunt as there has been a complete failure to take action."
While violations have doubled in the space of one year there were 34,067 households either assessed as homeless by councils or threatened with it in Scotland last year an increase of just 72 (0.2%) on the previous year.
During the pandemic’s first year, breaches plunged to just 595 as emergency housing was prioritised, but numbers have since shot up and there have been a total of 39,945 recorded breaches since 2017/18 after detailed homelessness returns first became available.
Councils have a legal obligation under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 to offer at the very least temporary accommodation when they assess a person or household as unintentionally homeless.
Individuals can challenge local authority decisions through internal reviews and, if necessary through judicial review.
Campaigners are concerned that despite the housing regulator's intervention to try and get Glasgow and Edinburgh to comply - the breaches continue to rise.
The housing emergency declaration does not give Glasgow City Council extra powers
And there is concern that there is a failure from the housing regulator to take any firmer moves that it can take under Scottish law like legal enforcement action and removal of officers to ensure human rights are protected.
Research shows that 18 of Scotland's 32 council have admitted to Scottish Government officials that they have flouted the law on homelessness at least once in the past eight years. In 2024/25 there were 11.
Nearly three in four of the violations have been in Glasgow - which came under the scrutiny of the housing regulator last year over how it handles the homeless.
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That's despite the fact the number of households they assessed as either homeless or under threat of it went up by just 7% over the same period. In Edinburgh which has recorded 9445 breaches over the eight years - the violations have also doubled in a year - from 1,515 to 3,245 in 2024/25.
Glasgow declared a housing emergency in November 2023 due to the pressure on homelessness services, which council chiefs said been further affected by a Home Office decision to speed up asylum claims.
And Glasgow council leader Susan Aitken declared last month that UK asylum policy is to blame for soaring homelessness costs, as the city faces a possible £66m bill next year.
While Glasgow is known to be one of the UK's key hotspots for refugees, the numbers left homeless only went up by 1324 in a year with 2709 needing a home in 2024, according to a Glasgow City Council chief social work report.
The Scottish Tenants Organisation said: "It is a terrible indictment of the housing and homelessness emergency in Scotland that local authorities are allowed to break the law with impunity.
"It is a scandal beyond words that in the 21st century those in power in Scotland appear to be turning a blind eye to thousands of homeless families unlawfully with impunity being turned away from getting emergency accommodation leaving them on the streets destitute and in danger to their very existence.
"The Scottish Housing Regulator has got to intervene now to tackle this scandal as it is unacceptable."
Living Rent said: "It is shocking councils are utterly failing their most basic duty to keep children and pregnant mothers safe. For councils to leave some of the most vulnerable in our country without basic protections is appalling.
"For violations to double in a year and be worse than the five previous years combined shows that this government’s housing plan is not serious and rotten to the core.
"The regulator needs to grow teeth and act now to protect vulnerable people.
"This crisis is the failure of the Scottish Government to adequately fund local authorities and fundamentally address the root cause of homelessness which is a complete lack of affordable and accessible housing."
The rising tide of breaches in Glasgow has come five years after the Scottish Government-funded housing regulator, which is directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament, found that the council had failed in its legal duties to house homeless people by failing to ensure there was enough suitable temporary accommodation for them before the coronavirus pandemic.
The regulator inquiry came after Shelter Scotland launched legal action against Glasgow City Council with a view to taking it to court over the numbers that were being refused their legal rights.
It concluded that the council did not provide temporary accommodation to significant numbers of people when they needed it.
During 2019/20, the council told the regulator that it failed to offer temporary accommodation on 3,830 instances when households required it. But that is nearly 9000 fewer than the number of failures that it is currently responsible for.
The regulator said at the time that this meant the council "failed" to comply with its "statutory duty" to offer temporary accommodation in nearly one in three occasions when people required it.
The regulator said that in response to its findings and recommendations Glasgow City had developed, and was implementing, a new temporary accommodation strategy within its wider programme of work "to transform its services for people who are homeless".
The year after the regulator's actions the council had just 55 breaches and it was in low single figures the following year.
The reduction was hailed by the housing minister who said Glasgow had "responded well to the extraordinary challenges caused by Covid-19". But the numbers have since rocketed again.
The housing regulator which has been scrutinising Glasgow and it homelessness efforts say there are "systemic issues" affecting the city's homelessness services.
They say the demands on councils, including Glasgow "exceed their capacity to respond" and they say in its engagement plan that they will "promote improvement where possible".
The Scottish Housing Regulator said: “We will continue to monitor, assess and report on councils’ performance in discharging their duties to people who are homeless, and we will engage with councils to promote improvement where this is possible. We will also work with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to identify and implement actions that will address the acute issues in temporary and permanent accommodation for people who are homeless.”
Glasgow City Council say that failures are recorded for each day that they are unable to provide emergency accommodation, so in August alone the had 1000 breaches involving 322 households.
A spokeswoman said: “We have seen a significant increase in demand for homelessness assistance in recent years. We have rapidly increased our use of emergency accommodation and continue to work to increase the supply of emergency and permanent accommodation, in order to meet demand.
“The housing regulator’s thematic inspection of homelessness highlighted that councils, like Glasgow, face challenges that are structural in nature – i.e. lack of housing. We continue to work with a range of partners including UK and Scottish Governments to secure adequate funding to help address these challenges.”
The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said it was working to "take forward significant actions to respond to the housing crisis, but regrettably there is no quick fix".
Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan said: “Everyone in Scotland has a right to support when they are experiencing homelessness and temporary accommodation if they need it.
“I recognise the significant pressure on homelessness services, particularly in Glasgow in Edinburgh. City Councils have a statutory responsibility to provide support and we continue to meet with both city councils regarding the importance of fulfilling their obligations.
“The cost of living, generally difficult economic conditions and the UK Government’s mismanagement of the asylum system are creating serious pressures for local authorities, especially Glasgow. The Housing Emergency Action Plan I published on 2 September ensures that £808m will be available for affordable homes in Scotland this year. This includes £80m this year for Councils to acquire family homes now to relieve pressure. It also commits to up to £4.9bn over the next four years for the delivery of a major affordable homes project as well as support for those at risk of rough sleeping and women fleeing domestic abuse.
“The UK Government must urgently provide more financial assistance to enable local authorities to provide safety and sanctuary for people seeking asylum and ensure their appropriate integration into communities. I have written to the new Secretary of State for the Home Office to make clear that this must be a priority.”
