New Scottish Homelessness Statistics

For the first time since the Covid pandemic, The new Scottish homelessness statistics show a slight reduction in the number of homelessness applications being made last year. But the picture across Scotland, when looked at in more detail, remains bleak.

The number of people experiencing rough sleeping in the days leading up to a homelessness application being made, is increasing. Even more troubling, the number of people not being offered a form of temporary accommodation once they have submitted a homelessness application, is also rising.

Local authorities have a lawful obligation to provide temporary accommodation to homeless households. Despite this, during 2024-25, there were 16,485 instances of households not being offered temporary accommodation. This is more than double than the year before.

The impact on young people

These statistics directly mirror what we are experiencing on the ground. Our teams are increasingly fielding enquiries from young people who have not been offered any accommodation by the local authority. Rough sleeping is becoming a more common experience for those coming to us for help, as well as people sofa-surfing with friends and acquaintances.

There is a bottleneck in social housing and temporary accommodation, and the numbers of people in crisis situations is increasing as a result. Put simply, there is nowhere for people to go.

At the same time, young people continue to be disproportionately affected. Year on year, statistics show us that young people account for a quarter of all homeless applications, despite accounting for only 13% of the Scottish population.

“In most cases, young people are being made homeless because of relationship breakdown or being asked to leave. With the housing crisis ongoing, and fewer pathways into accommodation, its imperative we do more to protect our young people from becoming homeless at all. We must look to the start. We must work with communities and families to keep young people in their homes, and we need Scottish Government to work with us to join the dots and invest in the right services.” Kate Polson, CEO

Many of the young people we support are especially vulnerable if no secure accommodation and support is made available. Young unaccompanied asylum seekers facing language barriers and a lack of support networks are particularly at risk. Human trafficking is not an issue limited to TV shows, or far off countries, it is happening here in Scotland, and we are finding ourselves on the front line.