AFTER years of homelessness a man has called getting a permanent home “the best thing that’s ever happened” to him.

Hugh Andrews, 37, spent 13 years living in temporary accommodation and has now secured a home with Cube Housing Association.

His support worker Scott was key to helping him find a secure base for his life.

“I see Scott as a friend and I can’t thank him and Cube enough for what they’ve done for me,” said Craig.

He got a home in Clydebank nine months and said it has turned his life around: “I was homeless for 13 years and Housing First is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

“It’s helped me turn my life around and things are working out really well for me. I feel much more optimistic now.”

Housing First is a scheme supported by the Wheatley Group - which owns Cube, among other housing associations - to get vulnerable people suffering from the lack of a fixed address into homes.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, is has given more than 470 homes to local authorities to be used as temporary accommodation.

The approach - adopted in most Scottish cities - has also seen 1500 homes let to homeless people since August and 98 temporary homes flipped to serve as permanent addresses.

Yesterday saw Wheatley hand over its 200th home to the scheme, meaning that 88 per cent of tenancies in the scheme in Glasgow were provided by the group.

Its pledge to reach this goal was made in December 2018 at the Sleep in the Park event in the captial, organised by Social Bite.

Coming good on the promise “underlines” Wheatley’s stated commitment to tackling homelessness in Scotland, said its chief executive Martin Armstrong.

Doug Gibson, Housing First programme manager at Homeless Network Scotland, said: “It is inspirational to witness key partners, such as Wheatley Group, continuing to provide properties and support to allow the continued scaling up of Housing First across the country.

“These are so much more than just tenancies – they represent 200 opportunities for people to rebuild their lives and to recover from their experience of homelessness with the support they need.”

As well as guaranteeing a support worker for people making the transition from being homeless to housed, Wheatley also offers support in the form of emergency food packages and free household items including white goods, cookers and furniture.

Josh Littlejohn the founder of Social Bite, thanked the housing group for its efforts.

He added: “I look forward to us continuing to work together to help eradicate homelessness in Scotland.”