'Serious Risk to Life this Winter': Campaigners' Plea to Holyrood

A major Glasgow-based charity group is calling on the Scottish Government to do more about the homeless housing crisis in Scotland ahead of a dangerous and deadly winter.

It comes at the start of the Everyone Home Collective's annual 2-day conference.

The EHC, a group of around 40 charities and academic organisations focusing on housing and homelessness in Scotland, says lives are now at "serious risk."

This year has seen a significant rise in the numbers of people now sleeping rough on the streets of Scotland. Government figures have shown that 2,931 people slept rough before making a homelessness application between April of last year and March 2024, an increase of over 500 people, and a rise on pre-pandemic levels.

The Charity says "every person forced to sleep rough is one too many." and is arguing that the accommodation crisis represents a serious breach of the Scottish Government's legal Human Rights obligations.

Calling on the Scottish Human Rights Commission, the EHC believes that the lack of suitable emergency accommodation could contravene the Fundamental Right to Life under the 1998 Human Rights Act.

The Collective say that the Scottish Government has a duty to protect life where it knows-or should know-it is endangered.

'End rough sleeping and temporary accommodation use.'

Scottish Housing Secretary Paul McLennan has reiterated the Scottish Government's commitment to ending the homeless accommodation emergency:

"Everyone should live in a safe, warm, affordable, high quality and energy efficient home that meets their needs."

Mr McLennan later went on to say that the Government has provided increased funding to tackle homelessness across Scotland, on top of the Local Government Settlement of £14 billion:

"We have a £100 million multi-year ending homelessness together fund for specific action to prevent homelessness, end rough sleeping and temporary accommodation use."

He also emphasised the responsibility Local Authorities, saying: "have a legal duty to provide accommodation to anyone at risk of homelessness and nobody should have to sleep rough in Scotland."

'Adequate shelter this winter for everyone who needs it.'

Heading up Scotland's human rights watchdog, Professor Angela O'Hagan stated that she was concerned a breach of rights on housing could lead to breaches on other key rights in Scotland:

"The Scottish Human Rights Commission is concerned that persistent and systemic poverty in Scotland is linked to human rights denials for too many people, including the struggle to achieve basic rights such as adequate housing, healthcare and food."

She later expressed that Every Home Collective's challenge to the Scottish government was an important one given the mounting challenges, stating the need for "adequate shelter this winter for everyone who needs it."

An Accelerating Crisis.

In recognition of the accelerating pace of the crisis, the Everyone Home Collective has also requested support from the Home Secretary for Scottish Local Authorities, stating the situation was "contributing to very significant pressure on housing and homelessness services."

Even more worryingly, the number of people who have already managed to receive supported accommodation now becoming homeless has doubled.

2022-23 figures revealed 932 such people had been forced into homelessness, while the 2023-24 rose to a shocking 1,978 individuals. The Everyone Home Collective has said this increase was due to asylum seekers failing to receive 'transition support' from temporary to permanent housing.

Chief Executive Sabir Zazai of the Scottish Refugee council, one of the dozens of organisation in the Collective, stressed the need for the Home Office's backing:

"The Home Office must support local councils to ensure everyone transitioning out of asylum accommodation has a safe place to stay," further describing the situation as "an assault on dignity, social inclusion and the right to life."

No longer just the big cities.

Speaking from the Collective's annual conference in Perth, Head of Partnerships and Consulting Grant Campbell warns that governments can not continue to apply temporary solutions to the emergency:

"A few years ago when you were talking about homelessness, it predominantly hit the big cities: Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Now we are increasingly starting to see people in rural Local Authorities starting to rough sleep."

This means that the problem is becoming more of a national issue where before big cities would be the main location.

Quick fixes like containers, pop-up shelters and sheds, says Grant Campbell, "do not work, and we know they don't work."

Campbell believes the large number of empty homes in Scotland could be part of the solution, pointing out Shelter Scotland's Empty Homes Project, empty houses used by social landlords and his own group's 'Homes First' initiative.

"We want to see Homes First grow in strength right across Scotland, which gets people a home quickly," but stresses this piece of the housing crisis can not be solved while only tackling its smaller chunks: "We need to work in a real multi-agency way for that to be effective."

Ultimately, the pleas of the Campaign Group is simple: "we need houses for people."