Hotel owners in Glasgow are to be paid an extra £3m in the next year to house homeless people and the cost to the council will double.

The money goes to a number of hotels used by the council to provide emergency accommodation for people.

The amount paid to the owners is expected to rise from £20.3m to £23.5m.

The cost to the council is set to rise from £5.5m to £10.5m, with housing benefit payments.

   The Glasgow Times has reported how dozens of homeless people have died suddenly in hotels in the city in the last two years: More here.

The council wants to reduce the use of B&B and hotels but said that may not be possible in the short term.

In 2022/23 hotels and B&B were paid £20,358,474 with £11,781,607 coming from housing benefit payments and another £3,248,066 from covid income for the Scottish Government.

This year 2023/24 it is budgeted that hotels and B&B owners will be paid £23,529,007 an increase of more than £3m.

Housing benefit will pay for £12,981,607 but with no covid income from the Scottish Government, the HSCP will have to meet £10,547,400 of the bill.

The hotels that have been used by the council include St Enoch Hotel, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Alexander Thomson Hotel in the city centre, Chez Nous in the West End and the Queen’s Park Hotel in the southside.

Glasgow Times:

   The Glasgow Times reported here how the number of people put up in hotels increased in the last year

Pat Togher, Assistant Chief Officer, Public Protection and Complex Needs said more people, not fewer, may need help.

In a report to the Health and Social Care Partnership board, he said: “The current cost of living crisis may undermine attempts to reduce bed and breakfast use, as more people may require homeless assistance and emergency accommodation.

“In addition, RSL colleagues have informed the HSCP that there has been an overall reduction in the availability of void properties as less people are moving home.

“This is also exacerbated by longer void periods due to supply chain issues within the construction industry.

“These factors, taken together, may undermine progress with reduction bed and breakfast use. There is significant risk to the HSCP from a premature reduction in the use of bed and breakfast places.

“Reducing the level of available places below that required to meet our statutory requirements to provide emergency accommodation would likely lead to an increase in rough sleeping and hardship for service users, reputational damage and potential judicial sanctions and additional costs.”

A spokesperson for the HSCP said: “The HSCP is committed to ending the use of bed and breakfast type accommodation for the provision of emergency accommodation for homeless households.

“We continue to work with a range of partners to move people on from hotel accommodation. We are also working with colleagues across the city to prevent homelessness wherever possible.

“We also have to factor in the impact of the current cost of living crisis as more people may require homeless assistance and emergency accommodation.”

Sean Clerkin of the Scottish Tenants Association has been highlighting the increasing use of hotels and the number of sudden deaths that have taken place in them.

He said: “The profiteers of homeless misery that run hellhole hotels in Glasgow for the homeless are set to increase their income from the taxpayer making a projected £23.5m in 2023-24.

“This is unacceptable in that as a few hotel owners profit from human misery, those who are homeless in the city will see up to £5.7 million cut from their services including hot meals ending, temporary furnished flats not being redecorated and no storage of clothing or personal possessions.

“The homeless must have ongoing access to hot food on a daily basis with their existing services being maintained. They must also get access to permanent Housing First tenancies as soon as possible. More money must be spent on homeless services not less.”