Half of newly registered homeless people are asylum seekers in Glasgow, says council leader Susan Aitken

Half of all people registered as newly homeless in Glasgow are asylum seekers, according to the city council’s leader as she appeals for more UK Government funding.

Councillor Susan Aitken said the city is housing thousands more asylum seekers than the “allocated amount,” and she wants to discuss a “bespoke solution” to help cover people’s accommodation costs.

Figures show there were about 4,520 asylum seekers in the city in December last year.

The speeding up of asylum seeker decision-making on their right to remain in the UK saw rising numbers of people being left homeless in the city – which came at a cost to the council.

Speaking at a council meeting yesterday, councillor Aitken said “the scale of impact on Glasgow is unique – we are currently accommodating thousands more asylum seekers than our allocated amount would suggest.

“We are also seeing a very significant rise in the numbers of people who have been given asylum accessing our homelessness services, with the figure now accounting for half of the new homelessness applications made each year.

“It is the single biggest driver in the housing challenges we are facing in the city. We are also seeing significant numbers of people who have been given leave to remain in other parts of the UK travelling to Glasgow to seek accommodation here. This, as we know, is all adding enormous pressure to the Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) homelessness budget.”

The SNP politician was responding to a question from Labour councillor Elaine McDougall who asked how the council plans to address and fund any pressures relating to asylum seekers next year.

Councillor Aitken said she has written to the minister of state for border security and asylum, Angela Eagle to, to seek a meeting to discuss what a bespoke solution would look like for Glasgow.

She added: ” I’m clear, though, that this has to contain funding from the Home Office to respond to these challenges.”

She said changes in the notice period for the eviction of asylum seekers is helpful.

She told the council meeting: ” Since the change of Government, there has been a change of tone. The announcement earlier this week about the notice period increasing from 28 days to 56 days before someone who has been given leave to remain is removed from their asylum accommodation is welcome.”