Homeless people in Fife face longest stay in temporary places in Scotland - Government urged to declare housing emergency

It is one of 24 of Scotland’s 32 councils where families have been left languishing in hostels and B&Bs for more than 100 days on average, according to statistics released in response to Freedom of Information requests.

The longest average stay was in Fife at 1,215 days, rising to 1,493 for families with children. These figures were provided by the local authority through the FOI request, but Fife Council told The Scotsman, sister publication to the Fife Free Press, yesterday those figures were inaccurate.

The data comes after three local authorities recently declared housing emergencies. The Scottish Conservatives now say the Scottish Government should declare a national housing emergency so action can be taken to help those classed as homeless.

A Scottish Government report published in August found there were 15,039 households forced to live in temporary accommodation, including 9,595 children. This is an increase of 9 per cent since last year.

In recent weeks, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Argyll and Bute councils have all declared housing emergencies. In Edinburgh, homeless families with a child under the age of 18 waited in temporary accommodation for an average of 247 days.

In Argyll and Bute it was 201 days, and in Glasgow it was 58.

A number of other local authorities also recorded high waits in temporary accommodation for families with children, including 223 days in Dundee, 277 days in Highland, and 196 days in West Dunbartonshire.

Scotland’s three island councils also recorded long waits for families with children – 270 days in Orkney, and 254 days in both Shetland and the Western Isles. One family had to wait six months in temporary accommodation in the Scottish Borders.

The longest average stay was in Fife at 1,215 days, rising to 1,493 for families with children. These figures were provided by the local authority through a FOI request, but Fife Council told The Scotsman yesterday those figures were inaccurate.

Councillor Judy Hamilton, housing and building services spokeswoman, said it was a national crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic and cost-of-living crisis.

She said: “In Fife, temporary accommodation has more than doubled in the last three years. Most temporary accommodation is self-contained and 600 temporary homes have been converted to permanent tenancies, setting national best practice and this has impacted our figures.”

Miles Briggs MSP, the Scottish Conservatives’ housing spokesman, said ministers needed to declare a housing emergency for the whole of Scotland.

He said: “It is completely unacceptable that so many people are left languishing in temporary accommodation for so long in so many councils across Scotland. The figures for Fife Council are so horrendous – they almost defy belief for, supposedly, ‘temporary’ stays.

“These waits should be a source of embarrassment for the SNP-Green government.”

His comments come only a week after finance secretary Shona Robison announced the Government was cutting £166 million from the 2024/25 housing budget.

Councillor Hamilton

Housing minister Paul McLennan said tackling homelessness was a “key priority” for the Government. He said ministers had been taking advice from experts in drawing up an action plan.

“Scotland has the strongest rights across the UK nations for people experiencing homelessness, and anyone threatened with or experiencing homelessness is entitled to temporary accommodation,” he said. He said the UK Government needed to change its funding policy, and this could prevent some homeless people from accessing help.