Scotland’s overworked councils taking nine months to house homeless

3 Aug 2024
Willie Rennie MSP

Scottish Liberal Democrat communities spokesperson Willie Rennie has today warned that Scotland’s local councils are overstretched as he revealed that the average time for a homeless person to be assessed and found a residence has increased to nine months.

Freedom of information requests published by the Scottish Government reveal that:

  • The average number of days from assessment to closure “for applications assessed as unintentionally homeless or threatened with homelessness where contact was maintained and with the outcome in a settled accommodation in Scotland” has risen from 240 days in 2018/19 to 270 days in 2022/23.
  • The average number of days has increased in 19 local authorities over the last five years.
  • The longest average wait last year was 699 days in Edinburgh, followed by 591 days in Stirling and 550 days in Midlothian.
  • Average waits have increased despite the number of people being assessed and housed barely increasing (20,505 in 2018/29 to 20,860 in 2022/23)

Commenting on the figures, Mr Rennie said:

“Ministers have completely failed to tackle the housing crisis. The SNP have axed a third from the housing budget, presided over record high levels of homelessness and let the number of affordable housing approvals fall to its lowest level for more than a decade.

“When people are in crisis, they need a roof over their heads if they are to have a hope of rebuilding.

“These figures show that overstretched councils are finding it harder and harder to get people into accommodation.

“Liberal Democrats are committed to tackling these housing failures head-on. We need a new National Housing Plan for Scotland that can stand up to the housing emergency, get more homes built and give people a home to call their own. We also want to see a budget that properly funds councils with a multi year settlement so that they can plan and invest for the future.”

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