An action plan to permanently end the most acute homelessness has been presented to the Scottish Government.

Nineteen charities have drawn up the moves which they believe will end rough sleeping and destitution on the streets.

The charities say that as Scotland moves out of lockdown there is a real opportunity to put measures in place to prevent people returning to living on the streets.

Around 300 people in Glasgow who were identified as rough sleepers are currently housed in hotels during lockdown.

The Everyone Home plan has three priorities which they say will lead to an end to a stubborn problem that has affected thousands of people in Glasgow over many years.

They want to prioritise prevention, create as much housing capacity as we can now and make a long-term commitment to increase the supply of homes for social rent

Also, the government is asked to permanently prevent a return to previous levels of rough sleeping in all areas

They also call for no evictions into homelessness, the end of avoidable evictions and the threat of illegal evictions.

Patrick McKay, Chair of Homeless Network, said: “The majority of people and organisations in Scotland that care about homelessness agree that the Scottish Government’s Ending Homelessness Together Plan is the right approach, and we were making progress.

“However, the onset of this pandemic demanded a rapid response to keep people safe. Since March we have managed to accommodate and support all those who wanted to be indoors, including people with no recourse to public funds. It is now imperative to secure that progress.”

Simon Community Scotland, working with Glasgow City Council was given government funding to ensure people who were sleeping rough when lockdown restrictions came into effect were put into temporary accommodation.

Lorraine McGrath, Chief executive of Simon Community Scotland, said: “As lockdown begins to ease this is the moment to use the learning of working so closely with so many people and from delivering positive impacts.

We hope that people will carefully consider how they might best use their compassion and generosity to support us in truly ending the blight of rough sleeping and homelessness.”