Hundreds of homeless people are in accommodation that is legally defined as 'unsuitable' on any given day in Glasgow.
The council confirmed that on June 30 this year there were 374 people in accommodation that was in breach of the legal standard.
Most are believed to have been in B&B accommodation for more than the seven days that is permitted under the legislation, which also covers access to toilets and cooking facilities and the overall standard of the rooms.
READ MORE: Glasgow council owed £4m as homeless temporary accommodation increases
Last week, the Glasgow Times revealed there were 221 breaches in one premises alone, the Queens Park Hotel, between September last year and March 2022.
The Queens Park Hotel, which has 58 rooms used by homeless people, has been the subject of complaints over vandalism, rubbish and theft by people who have stayed there.
Details issued in response to a Freedom of Information request showed the Unsuitable Accommodation Order breaches extends wider than the one hotel.
Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership buy up rooms in several B&B establishments in the city for use as emergency accommodation.
On top of the emergency accommodation, there are more than 6000 people in temporary accommodation housed in flats in the city.
READ MORE: Council bosses order clean-up at Glasgow's Queens Park Hotel
The information on the breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order was obtained by housing campaigner Sean Clerkin.
Mr Clerkin said: “The admission by Glasgow City Council that there were 374 breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order for homeless people living in highly substandard temporary accommodation is unacceptable and must be put right.
“This means that the temporary accommodation they are in is below tolerable standard and it now appears that more people are being trapped in temporary accommodation for longer periods of time averaging between 58 and 62 weeks in such accommodation.
“In fact, 6352 homeless people are trapped in temporary accommodation in Glasgow, an increase of 10% in under two years.”
The council uses a number of hotels for emergency accommodation to meet changing demand and this week has people being put up in 10 different establishments.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council, said: “The Unsuitable Accommodation Order was extended to all homeless households from October 1, 2021.
"This extension means that the maximum number of days that local authorities can use unsuitable accommodation for any homeless household is seven days.
"While Glasgow is seeing a continual increase in requests for homelessness assistance, the HSCP has been working with a range of partners since the extension of the UAO to work towards routine compliance of the order as well as increase access to support services to people placed in bed and breakfast-type accommodation.
“A number of pressures, not least the rise in homeless presentations, have led to the increase in UAO breaches, however, the council remains committed to ending the use of bed and breakfast-type accommodation and our forthcoming Temporary Accommodation Strategy sets out how we intend to do this over the next three years.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here