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Number of Scottish homeless households living in B&Bs doubled during pandemic
The number of Scottish households living in B&B temporary accommodation soared by 99% in the first half of the coronavirus pandemic, while total homelessness cases grew by a fifth, official figures show.
Data released by the Scottish government today revealed an increase of homeless households in B&Bs, from 704 in the six months to 30 September 2019 to 1,414 over the same period in 2020 – a 99% rise.
In total there were 27,332 open homelessness cases on local authorities’ books at the end of September last year, representing a 20% increase from the 22,783 recorded on the same date in 2019.
Households in temporary accommodation rose by 24% over the same period, from 11,431 to 14,151.
A report from the Scottish government accompanying the data said: “The increased use of bed and breakfast accommodation was due to increased availability of this accommodation type, alongside additional funding provided to local authorities to provide temporary accommodation in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“Bed and breakfast accommodation was increasingly offered to households in this period as it was easier for households to socially distance in this accommodation type in comparison to other more communal accommodation such as hostels.”
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Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “To see a near doubling of the use of bed and breakfast exposes just how grossly under-resourced councils were before the pandemic.”
Between April and September 2020, 10,957 households entered temporary accommodation while 7,372 exited, creating a net difference of 3,585 additional households in temporary accommodation over this period.
The Scottish government said: “COVID-19 restrictions limited the ability of local authorities to move households in to permanent accommodation, and therefore close cases, explaining the increase in the number of open homelessness cases.
“This included difficulties in carrying out necessary repairs, challenges conducting viewings due to households shielding or self-isolating and a lower level of lets due to staff, especially registered social landlords, being furloughed.”
A separate data release from Holyrood showed there were 21,910 new homes completed across all sectors in Scotland in the year to 30 March 2020, an increase of 3% on the previous year.
Those figures include 1,928 social homes completed between January and March last year, 11% less (237 homes) than the same quarter in 2019.
This brought the total number of social homes delivered for the year to 30 March 2020 to 5,672, an increase of 4% on the 5,478 in 2019.
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