Housing campaigners claim Scotland is in a state of emergency after it was revealed that legal safeguards for homeless families are being breached thousands of times.
“The fact that the unsuitable accommodation order is being breached with such alarming regularity in Scotland’s largest city is yet another symptom of a broken housing system which is inflicting misery on communities across the country. Shelter Scotland recognises that there will always be a need for some temporary accommodation but there is currently a significant over reliance which is unacceptable, especially when the accommodation used falls for of the required standards.
From May 2020 the Homeless Persons Order 2014 was applied to all homeless people. The legislation previously only applied to households with children or pregnant women. Clerkin said: “It is a scandal that there have been 2,013 breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order by Glasgow City Council this year. Homeless people have been put in squalid and substandard accommodation and have to pay sky high charges of between £159 to £400 a week for this, with private providers making huge profits out of their misery.”
In February last year eight councils reported breaching the Unsuitable Accommodation Order 375 times. With 195 breaches, Fife Council broke the law the most times, followed by Glasgow City Council, which reported 110 breaches. Several residents claimed conditions were inhumane. Police Scotland tool more than 1,000 calls relating to alleged crimes and drug abuse at the Rennie Mackintosh Station Hotel, on Union Street, and seven people have died there since 2020.A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: “During the public health emergency we saw an increase in the numbers of households seeking homelessness assistance.