'There's no way out': Child homelessness hits record levels in Scotland

A record number of children are homeless in Scotland as the figure continues to rise.

“I’m on a mattress on the floor. It’s the only solution I could come to. What else can you do?

“It’s just such a stress. You’re sitting here at the mercy of the local authority.”

Danielle Quigley and her six children are homeless.

They’ve been forced to live in emergency accommodation provided by South Lanarkshire Council after their landlord of 14 years decided to sell the home they were renting.

But this temporary home is overcrowded, leaving Danielle with no other option but to sleep on a mattress on the floor so she can give her kids a bed.

And it’s anything but temporary.

Danielle Quigley and her six children are homeless. STV News

Danielle has been told she can expect to live here for some time, as there are so few family-sized homes available.

“Looking at the market, and what the council have said, the chances of us getting a four-bedroom house are slim to none.”

Danielle’s situation is not unique.

Scotland is in the grips of a housing emergency, with the number of children trapped in emergency accommodation on the rise.

The Scottish Government has published their latest homelessness figures, and, with just three months to the next Scottish Parliament elections, it is not good reading for the SNP:

A record number of 10,480 children are homeless and living in temporary accommodation
The number of households in temporary accommodation also reached a new record high of 18,092, a 9% increase over the previous year
The number of live homeless applications is also the highest on record, at 33,006

If you look at the figures over the course of the 2021 to 2026 Parliament, rough sleeping has more than doubled, overall homelessness has gone up nearly 20%, and the number of children in temporary accommodation has gone up 26%, the highest level since numbers began.

The number of people assessed as homeless and seeking support has fallen, which the government says is encouraging, but campaigners say not enough is being done to solve this crisis, which is getting worse year on year.

One of the key issues for campaigners is that more than £100 million was spent on homeless hotels in Scotland in 2024/2025, another figure that has been on the rise.

Paula was one of those people placed in a homeless hotel last year, which she says was filled with drugs, violence and sex work.

She felt so unsafe that she chose to sleep rough in a Glasgow park for nearly four months instead of living in one of the hotels.

Paula chose to sleep in the park rather than return to temporary accomodation STV News

“As strange as it sounds, I was actually happier here than I was in accommodation. The drug situation, folk coming to your door, stuff you don’t need when you’re going through hell.”

“You’re targeted, you’re classed a vulnerable, targeted by sex offenders, predators… classed as a prostitute. You’re classed as a junkie.

“I actually stood in a corner of this park with six litres of water, soap, and a sponge. To get washed. Dignity goes right out the window.”

Paula has now been placed in an emergency, temporary flat, provided by Glasgow City Council.

But she says this area is not safe for her and can’t be a long-term solution.

Another woman experiencing homelessness in the city, whose identity we’re protecting, says the hotels are filthy and certainly not worth the amount of money the government is spending on them.

“Rats were urinating in the water. I got offered crack cocaine a million times.

“You need to be the person who shouts the loudest. Thing you’ll hear the most is, ‘we are going through a housing crisis’ which basically means your worker is saying, ‘Get to the bottom of the pile hen’.”

There are only a handful of women-only homeless facilities in Scotland, with demand far outweighing supply.

It’s a similar story across the rest of the UK, with the exception of Northern Ireland, who have a dedicated women’s homeless centre.

Laura Jones is from the Scottish Tenants Organisation, she says: “We would like to see the Scottish Government step in, and take a serious look at how homeless services are being delivered in the city and in other cities across Scotland.

“The money is there. We are actually throwing money away a lot of the time. So frequently this is presented and framed as a resource issue, but actually it’s just that we’re not behaving in a competent manner.”

“We’re not behaving in a sensible manner. We’re not looking at where the funding is actually required and how it can be used to actually help people out of these situations.”

Commenting on today’s statistics, the cabinet secretary for Housing Màiri McAllan said: “The number of people assessed as homeless and seeking support for homelessness has fallen, and with so much work done in recent months, this is encouraging. However, there is still much to do, and we are determined to turn the tide and ensure everyone has the opportunity of a place to call home.

“The figures do speak to the severe pressure that services are under due to the Home Office’s mismanagement of the asylum system, particularly in Glasgow. The UK Government must provide additional support for Glasgow City Council. I have written to UK Immigration Minister Alex Norris to request an urgent meeting with him and Glasgow City Council.

“To end homelessness, we must deliver more affordable homes and ensure people are supported to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place.”

But housing charities warn these high levels of homelessness are becoming normalised.

Shelter Scotland is calling for new money and a new approach after what they say has been decades of underinvestment in social housing across Scotland and the UK.

The charity says that a failure to prioritise fixing Scotland’s broken and biased housing system will lead to rising homelessness and further cuts to local services unless the next Scottish Government acts.   

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, says: “As we look towards the election, we cannot accept that this will continue. We cannot continue to accept the law being broken every single day, with people at the sharpest end bearing the costs. This is why we desperately and urgently need a new approach, and the new money to match it.

“We welcomed the intent behind the First Minister’s plan for a national housing agency last week. But intent alone won’t build homes. Without the funding to match the ambition, homelessness will only rise. And we need the new agency to deliver for the people waiting for a home.

“We must be clear about the cost of failure. Failing to build the social homes we need means more families waking up without a place to call home, more children trapped in temporary accommodation and in poverty, with rising costs for councils, health boards and the taxpayer. We can’t afford not to invest in Scotland’s future.”

Danielle’s accommodation provider said they can’t comment on individual cases but told us the council is experiencing extremely challenging circumstances, which are being mirrored across Scotland, and that where homelessness does occur, they aim to resolve it as swiftly as they can.