Anas Sarwar has accused SNP politicians of "bickering behind the scenes" while "people are freezing on our streets" after correspondence released through Freedom of Information revealed an astonishing spat between the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council.
In the exchange of letters over the summer, Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan warned her party colleagues on the local authority that a failure to provide emergency accommodation for homeless people over winter could result in a “risk to life” for rough sleepers.
However, a senior councillor in the SNP local authority hit back at the minister’s demands that the city pay for the Rapid Rehousing Welcome Centre (RRWC) out of its existing budget, “given the very real consequences for other areas of provision”.
Earlier this month, the Scottish Government backed down and announced that Glasgow and Edinburgh would share £430,000 to help cope with rough sleeping.
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RRWCs are designed to be a “safe, dignified and inclusive alternative” to communal night shelters.
The Glasgow centre is run by Glasgow City Mission and has 24 self-contained rooms.
In her August 1 letter to Allan Casey, Glasgow City Convener for Workforce, Homelessness and Addiction Services, Ms McAllan made clear the Scottish Government’s expectation that an RRWC be in place.
She told Cllr Casey: “By providing people at risk of rough sleeping with dignified access to self-contained temporary accommodation alongside trusted third sector services providing person-centred, trauma-informed care, I trust we can both agree on the great value of RRWCs.
“With this in mind, and with autumn approaching, it is my intention and indeed expectation that planning be underway to provide RRWCs in Glasgow and Edinburgh over the coming winter period.
“A failure to deliver the RRWC in the coming winter is likely to result in increased risk to people rough sleeping, or at risk of rough sleeping. Through the winter months this could result in risk to life.”
The minister said she recognised the “challenging context in which your local authority is delivering homelessness services” but that it was “not acceptable that a joint partnership model to deliver a welcome centre service in Glasgow was not agreed in 2024-25 and that an unregulated night shelter continues to operate in the city”.
Charity Homeless Project Scotland runs a night shelter which offers overnight accommodation for around 30 people on mattresses and serves meals to about 350 people a day.
The organisation has been operating from the premises since November 2023, but is currently in a battle with the council over planning permission.
The councillor replied that the authority shared the minister’s “aspiration to end the use of open-air night shelters” and had “consistently supported” RRWCs.
“It was therefore disappointing that the Scottish Government chose not to fund the RRWC in Glasgow last winter.
“As you are aware, Glasgow City Council has never directly funded the RRWC, and we continue to face significant financial pressures across all areas of service delivery.
“Unfortunately, we are not in a position to absorb the additional £270,000 required to support the new proposal from Glasgow City Mission without direct funding from the Scottish Government.”
The two then met and, in a letter to the minister on September 1, Cllr Casey said: “At this stage in the financial year, there is no scope for budgetary flexibility or workarounds, meaning that any allocation toward the RRWC would require displacing other existing priorities."
He said that a previous centre was funded by the Scottish Government, with the council’s health and social care partnership supporting it through “in-kind support and co-ordination of pathways”.
Cllr Casey told the minister: “Redirecting resources to support the RRWC would, in effect, reduce the city’s existing capacity and restrict the flexibility of our out-of-hours team, which relies heavily on emergency placements to meet urgent needs.
“This approach would not only be detrimental to our local service model — it would also remove any opportunity for the Scottish Government to credibly present the RRWC as an additional national intervention during the winter months.”
Cllr Casey said he could not in “good conscience recommend the reallocation of existing local budgets to support this project, given the very real consequences for other areas of provision”.
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Responding to the correspondence, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said it was “absolutely disgraceful that while people are freezing on our streets, the SNP are bickering behind the scenes”.
He added: “Màiri McAllan herself acknowledged that the lack of such a facility could result in a risk to life over the winter period, yet she still refused to take responsibility.
“Councils are facing severe financial pressure due to the SNP’s chronic mismanagement of our public services throughout their 18 years in government, with ministers expecting local authority leaders to pick up the tab for their incompetence.
“Despite pleas from her SNP colleague five months ago to confirm funding for the welcome centre, it was only last week that the Housing Secretary announced the funding.
“That is a shameful dereliction of duty from Màiri McAllan, which has potentially put more people at risk this winter.”
Cllr Casey hit back at Mr Sarwar: “I am in touch with the minister regularly and I am always ready to make Glasgow’s case for support and funding, whether that is for the council or the third sector partners that deliver many of these services on the ground.
“The minister responded positively and confirmed last month that additional cash would be made available for welcome centres.
“If Anas Sarwar wants to call that bickering, fine. I would call it constructive dialogue, the kind of approach that actually secures resources for our city.”
Ms McAllan said: “We took early action to increase the direct support to Glasgow Rapid Rehousing Welcome Centres to ensure there was winter provision and I was pleased to meet with Glasgow City Mission this week to see it operating well.
"This, along with the centre in Edinburgh, provide a safe, dignified and inclusive alternative to night shelters.
“Since 2020 we’ve delivered more than £1.6 million, which has provided over 6,500 people at risk of rough sleeping with accommodation and support.
"In addition to this we have provided over £415,000 to third sector organisations across Scotland over the same time period so staff can provide people who are rough sleeping with support in a dignified and person-centred way.”
In an update note prepared for the Cabinet Secretary, officials say that Edinburgh has the highest number of people sleeping rough, with between 60-85 on a nightly basis. In Glasgow, it averages between 25-35 people per night.
Following the pandemic, rough sleeping figures in both cities were at a record low, with under ten people reported to be rough sleeping in Glasgow and under 30 in Edinburgh, but this has gradually risen to pre-pandemic levels.
