Shock over high number of homeless families in B&Bs

THE number of homeless families living in bed-and-breakfast accommodation in the Highlands is three times the total in the city of Glasgow.

Government figures have revealed that more than a fifth of the country’s pregnant women who are staying in B&Bs are in the north.

And 15% of homeless children staying in bed and breakfasts are in the Highlands.

The statistics have sparked calls for urgent action by the local authority and a housing charity said the figures underlined the “dire” shortage of temporary housing in the north.

Mary Scanlon, Conservative MSP for the Highlands and Islands, said she was “shocked” by the statistics released by the Scottish Government and had written to the council urging it to review its homeless policy.

She said: “I have had several families contact me over the years saying they have been in bed and breakfast accommodation for months on end, all living in one bedroom.”

She said that some people were made to leave the accommodation during the day, while others had no cooking facilities or privacy from family members.

She said: “It’s important that families with young children or teenagers are given appropriate accommodation. While B&Bs can be essential, they should only be a short-term solution.

“It’s quite expensive accommodation and I want to ask the Highland Council what plans they have to address that.”

Across the Highlands, which has a population of about 220,000, 342 homeless households are being put up in B&Bs.

In Glasgow, which has a population of about 590,000, the figure is 105.

The director of homeless charity Shelter Scotland, Graeme Brown, said: “These figures highlight the dire shortage of temporary accommodation and affordable housing available in the Highland area.

“B&Bs do not provide a long-term solution to homelessness. Not only is it costly for the taxpayer but for many families it can mean a loss of privacy and create uncertainty around their future.

“The Scottish Government needs to provide more funding for affordable homes in the Highlands to get to the root of the problem.”

A Highland Council spokeswoman said the local authority’s housing and social work committee would be looking at ways to reduce homelessness and reliance on B&Bs at a meeting in Inverness tomorrow.

She said that large cities like Glasgow had more scope to use existing council and social housing rather than B&Bs for temporary homeless accommodation.

She said the council faced particular challenges in relation to homelessness as the number of people it was legally-bound to house had increased and it was taking longer to secure permanent accommodation.

She added: “In these circumstances, unfortunately, we have to make use of bed-and-breakfast accommodation. We would also point out that although categorised as ‘bed-and-breakfast’ accommodation, much of the property we use is self contained with private access to facilities.

“The council has a progressive homelessness strategy and we are investigating ways to reduce homelessness and the reliance on B&Bs in particular.”

A report by the council’s head of housing, David Goldie, says that the current council housing support budget for homelessness services stands at around £2million.

The report says there were about 1,300 homeless households in temporary accommodation in the Highlands at the end of July.