Glasgow's housing emergency

What it means

Glasgow City Council declared a housing emergency in November 2023 amid mounting pressures on homelessness services.

The Council has a duty to assess people, if requested to do so, to determine if they are legally entitled to support. Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) supports people who meet the legal definition of homelessness to find suitable accommodation and may be able to help others in some circumstances.

• Find out the legal definition of homelessness

Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to help everyone at the moment because the demand for housing is much greater than the housing supply.

So, that means that we have to focus our resources on supporting people who have a critical or substantial housing need.  What this means in practice is that we support people who are in an emergency situation. In these circumstances if accommodation is required then what will be provided will be temporary and is unlikely to be of the type or in the location requested. Regrettably, this means that even people in great need often face a delay of a several years before they get a permanent house or flat.

The current situation

• There are currently almost 6,000 homeless households waiting for an offer of rehousing by Glasgow City Council (the housing could be provided by a housing association or cooperative, or a private landlord)
• We are currently using almost 1,500 bed and breakfast rooms to provide emergency accommodation each night.
• If you require an emergency place to stay it is likely that you will remain in temporary accommodation for a long time before we are able to provide you with an offer of permanent housing.