Glasgow City Council bosses invited to all-inclusive stay at 'squalor' homeless hotels

Homeless Project Scotland has said it will pay for two Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership employees to stay overnight at either the Alexander Thomson Hotel, the St Enoch Hotel or the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hotel on Union Street. 

The charity hopes that the stay would allow the council chiefs to witness firsthand the “squalor” and “uninhabitable” conditions that are faced by people moving into temporary accommodation. 

Picture taken inside Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hotel on Union Street

The invitation sent to the local authority reads: “Generations of Glaswegians have heard the phrase ‘Anikers Midden’ and often find it difficult to attribute a specific definition of what it actually is.

“That said, the squalor settings which service users find themselves living with are vile.

“Day after day, we are approached and told about rats and mice, blood and other body fluids, damp, mildew and cold conditions that are just some on what seems to be an incessant list.”

The charity runs an emergency food provision from underneath the Heilanman’s Umbrella on Argyle Street three nights per week. 

Picture taken inside Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hotel on Union Street

On average, volunteers will feed around 200 and 250 people every week. 
The invitation continues: “To experience first hand the horrors in which our most vulnerable are forced to live in, some may question if it is that bad in
such accommodation why would you stay in it? 

“It would be a valid point and in clarifying such a question - the only thing that is better about a hotel room is four walls. 

“That in itself is a horrific indictment to what it’s like being homeless at present.”

In October, we exclusively revealed one homeless man’s torment after residing at the Rennie Mackintosh Hotel on Union Street. 

He described the conditions as “insufferable” as he told how his sleep was disturbed every evening to to vermin “rustling around” in his bedroom. 

Glasgow City Council said that its long-term aim was to cease the use of hotels and bed and breakfasts as a form of temporary accommodation.

A spokesperson said: “B&Bs or hotels are only used in emergencies to ensure we accommodate people affected by homelessness and then only for as short a period as possible.

“We want people to be resettled in permanent homes as quickly as possible but we also want to reduce the use of temporary accommodation in general.

“The vast majority of people in temporary accommodation are staying in a furnished flat and it is our aim is to cease the use of B&Bs and hotels as a form of temporary accommodation.

“However, people currently accommodated in a B&B or hotel will receive regular support from caseworkers and our homelessness team liaises directly with the accommodation operators on a routine basis to address any issues or concerns.

“We met with Homeless Project Scotland as recently as last Thursday and they did not raise any concerns about the condition of B&B accommodation with us, despite having ample opportunity to do so.”

The Glasgow Times approached the Alexander Thomson Hotel, the St Enoch Hotel and the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hotel on Union Street for comment.