Families with children and pregnant women will spend no more than a week in emergency accommodation when a cap is introduced by the Scottish Government, the Housing Minister has told MSPs.
Kevin Stewart made the commitment as he was asked about rising levels of children living in temporary accommodation.
The time spent by families with children in temporary housing has risen by almost 20% in the past two years, according to figures highlighted by the charity Shelter Scotland.
Mr Stewart told Holyrood's chamber: "We are committed to introducing a cap of one week for families with children and pregnant women living in B&B accommodation unless there are exceptional circumstances.
"Scotland's strong homelessness rights means that families are placed in temporary accommodation while they wait for appropriate, sustainable, permanent accommodation.
"We want time in temporary accommodation to be as short as possible and we are increasing housing supply to help with this."
On Monday, Shelter Scotland said the Government's commitment to build 50,000 new affordable homes by 2021 was welcome, but falls short of the minimum of 12,000 a year that are needed.
Alison Walton of Shelter said: ''If we do build enough affordable housing of the right sort in the right places, then people's stay in temporary accommodation can be cut dramatically, the profound impact of homelessness can be reduced and people can rebuild their lives sooner."
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