Rough sleeping and homelessness at record levels

Responding to new figures, showing there were 31,695 open homelessness cases at 31 March 2025, the highest figure on record, while the number of households reporting rough sleeping the night before application has increased from 1,932 to 2,465, also a record number, Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry said:

“The scale of the challenge we face in tackling the housing emergency is simply vast.

“Record homelessness and rough sleeping is not the kind of challenge that can be fixed quickly.

“These figures ought to trigger plenty of sleepless nights in government. I hope the new Housing Secretary is better prepared than her predecessors.

“Slashing the affordable housing budget by the SNP and Greens was a grave mistake which Scottish Liberal Democrats reversed in this year’s budget. However we need to go further to build more homes, bring thousands of empty homes back into use and re-establish social rent as a valid, long-term option.”