Homeless people are sleeping on the floor on camping mats in a waiting room in Glasgow’s Overnight Welcome Centre.
The centre replaced the Winter Night Shelter and is intended to find people emergency accommodation in the city for the night.
Record numbers of people have been turning up this year.
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The Glasgow Times has seen photos of several men huddled on mats on the hard floor of the base in the city centre.
We are also aware that the homeless out-of-hours service is unable to find overnight accommodation for all the people who come to the centre seeking help.
Many are returning night after night, spending hours either on a hard chair or a mat on the floor before they are sent back out onto the streets at 6 am.
One man told the Glasgow Times: “They were not able to get me anywhere. It is because of my circumstances, it’s not their fault.”
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He told how there are several people in the same position who are spending the rest of the time on the streets.
The man told of hours overnight in the centre.
He added: "It is overcrowded, full of people with nowhere to go. Some have been there every night for weeks.
“At six o’clock we got put out. It was still freezing cold.”
People, he said, then wander the city centre streets trying to find somewhere where it is warm.
He added: “People go to a McDonald’s or Greggs but have no money so get told to leave.
"They go to the train stations anywhere out of the cold and wet. I see others I recognise doing the same thing.”
He said they go back to the Overnight Welcome Centre at night and repeat the process all over again.
On Monday at 9.30pm around 20 people could be seen queueing up outside the centre, some with their few belongings in bags.
There were more people already inside.
By 11.15pm there were still around 10 men standing outside in the cold. Inside there were people on chairs in the centre.
The Overnight Welcome Centre has dealt with hundreds of people this winter.
The website states there is no accommodation at the centre but the City Mission, which operates it, says no-one is turned away.
The OWC replaced the old night shelter in the east end where up to 40 people spent the night on mattresses with quilts in a hall.
The change was supposed to stop people spending the night in a crowded place and get them into accommodation instead.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “We are aware the Overnight Welcome Centre is experiencing increasing numbers of people looking for advice, support and or access to services.
“The vast majority are those who have received a decision from the Home Office and arrived from other parts of the UK or who have no recourse to public funds.
“We continue to provide support to City Mission and all new presentations are followed up either out of hours or the following morning.”
Glasgow City Mission has operated a space for the last 14 years over the winter months to take people off the streets who are at risk of rough sleeping.
This year more people than ever have come forward looking for help.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Mission, said: “Since the housing emergency was declared, we have seen record numbers of individuals using the OWC.
“We have seen more than 750 individuals so far this season.
“Our professionally trained staff work with each guest individually – taking time to hear their story and discover the specific support they require in their journey.
“Whilst we seek to secure accommodation for our guests we ensure that they have a safe indoor space and are off the streets. Everyone is welcome, regardless of their background, and we don’t turn anyone away.
“We pursue the best outcome for each guest and are supported in this by a strong network of over 20 partner agencies across the city, including the HSCP.
“In the current housing crisis, there have been significant challenges in moving our guests into accommodation. To ease this pressure we have now received additional funding to double our own emergency bed provision in a local hotel.”
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