Number of homeless applicants rise in Aberdeen
One local charity says more and more people are relying on them
The number of homeless applications in Aberdeen has risen dramatically in the last year.
851 people applied between March and September last year, compared to 708 from the year previous.
And despite the number of social homes in the city already exceeding targets, it's expected to drop as the council's budget is slashed further.
More money needed
"If you walk up and down Union Street you will notice there are a lot of people in doorways that weren't there before."
That's according to Director of Street Friends, Colin Robertson.
He added: "We used to see one or two everyday, now you're speaking about five, six, seven or eight.
"One day there was 10 people in doorways (on Union Street).
"What is really frightening in the people that we don't see. It's not the people we see, we know about them, but it's the people who are in doorways in various other parts of town."
Continuing, Colin said only one thing can solve the issue: "It's got to be money, that's going to be invested in housing, that's gong to be invested in the street."
"You've got to put all the pieces in place and you've got to solve every problem. If you don't solve every problem its not going to work."
Volunteers scarce
As the charity, like many others in Aberdeen and Scotland, have increased demand, Colin says volunteers are harder to come by.
"We generally help on average about 40 people a day.
"Sometimes we only get two people a day volunteering but anything anybody can do, either donating goods, or money or time, it all helps. Everything helps.
"All we want to do is put food in people's mouths. Some of them don't have anything, they literally have nothing.
"We go out every morning at 10:30 until about 1PM or 2PM, six-days-a-week, Monday to Saturday."