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Regulator intervenes over Glasgow and Edinburgh’s ‘systemic failure’ on homelessness services
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) has said there is “systemic failure” in homelessness services at two of Scotland’s biggest councils.
Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council were singled out for their inability to provide temporary accommodation, meaning they regularly breach their statutory homelessness duties.
Under the Unsuitable Accommodation Order, which came into force in 2021, local authorities can only use bed and breakfast-type accommodation for any homeless person for a maximum of seven days.
However, as of October 2023, Glasgow City Council said there were 683 households in homelessness accommodation in the city that breached the order.
Edinburgh Council also reported to the SHR that an average of 25% of households were living in temporary accommodation that breached the order.
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The SHR said it had updated its engagement plans with the two landlords.
John Jellema, assistant director of regulation, said: “The demands on Glasgow and Edinburgh councils now exceed their capacity to respond.
“We therefore take the view that both councils are impacted by systemic failure in the delivery of their services to people experiencing homelessness.”
Despite improvements by both councils, they were “not always able to provide" temporary accommodation, he said.
“We are ready to work with the Scottish government, councils and other stakeholders to identify and implement actions that will address these systemic issues.
“We will also engage with Glasgow and Edinburgh councils to seek assurance that they continue their best efforts to improve where they can,” he added.
Cammy Day, leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “We engage regularly with the Scottish Housing Regulator, so I am deeply disappointed by these comments and have asked for a meeting to go over these concerns.
“The regulator has accepted that we’re working hard to develop our services against the backdrop of increasing challenges that are beyond our control.
“Our city and services are still recovering from the pandemic and feeling the impact of Brexit, and have also been affected by the cost of living crisis and the terrible war in Ukraine, with refugees fleeing from Ukraine and other parts of the world to Edinburgh.
“The only solution lies with the Scottish government providing fair and proper funding so that we can narrow the widening gap between demand and supply of much-needed affordable and social housing in our growing city,” he concluded.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “The city faces particular challenges in relation to the level of demand for homelessness services.
“The challenges that we face are systemic in nature and relate to the scale of demand for homelessness services.
“We welcome the regulator’s acknowledgement that the council has made progress in recent years in addressing homelessness.
“We have been clear in calling [it] a housing emergency. The challenges we face require all partners to work together to address the housing and homelessness pressures in the city.
“We are encouraged by the housing regulator’s call on the Scottish government to work with it to address the issues that councils, like Glasgow, face in tackling homelessness.
“For our part, we intend to work with all partners, including the Scottish government, to address the challenges that we face.”
