Scotland's housing regulator has launched a local authorities intervention over what they have declared as a "systemic failure" in dealing with a homelessness crisis in Scotland.
The body which has powers to protect tenants rights has set engagement plans for two of Scotland's biggest councils, Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council which have both registered housing emergencies.
It comes as it emerged that in the wake of action after a housing regulator inquiry over Glasgow's past failure to provide temporary accommodation to the homeless when needed, it has been dogged with more legal breaches.
Councils have a legal obligation to offer temporary accommodation when they assess a person or household as unintentionally homeless.
Both councils are to hold meetings with the regulator over the state of their services and are expected to provide assurance of best efforts to provide suitable temporary accommodation for the homeless, in line with their legal duty.
READ MORE: 'Scandal': More than 14 homeless people die a month in Scotland
They are being told to make "best efforts" to meet its statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation when it should and to comply with the Unsuitable Accommodation Order.
The body warned ministers in February that there was an "emerging risk of systemic failure" in local authority homelessness services as some councils were finding it "increasingly difficult" to deal with the challenges of providing services for those who are homeless and meet their legal duties.
And it said that tackling the challenges of providing services for those who are homeless and meeting statutory duties may need to be a "principal priority" for the coming period for the Scottish Government, councils and others working to meet the needs of people who are homeless.
The regulator, whose statutory objective is to safeguard and promote the interests of 600,000 tenants who live in homes provided by social landlords, 120,000 property owners and the tens of thousands who experience homelessness, says the risk has become a reality.
And in a new message to ministers, the regulator has said "added urgency" is needed from the Scottish Government to bring forward measures to respond to the challenges councils are now experiencing.
The regulator said that "systemic failure requires a systemic intervention that is beyond our regulatory powers".
The action has been taken in relation to Glasgow City Council and The City of Edinburgh Council as the regulator said they were "impacted by this systemic failure in homelessness services".
But in taking action, the regulator has said: "We are ready to work with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to identify and implement actions that will address the acute issues in temporary and permanent accommodation for people who are homeless."
The City of Edinburgh Council said the only solution lies with the Scottish Government providing "fair and proper funding".
Glasgow City Council said that there is "general recognition" that extra resources were needed to deal with the problem.
The Scottish Government in response said the nation has the "strongest rights across the UK nations for people experiencing homelessness".
In November, 2020, the regulator found that the council failed in its legal duties to homeless people by failing to ensure there was enough suitable temporary accommodation for them before the coronavirus pandemic.
Its inquiry into the council’s services for people concluded that the council did not provide temporary accommodation to significant numbers of people when they needed it.
During 2019/20, the council told the regulator that it failed to offer temporary accommodation on 3,786 instances when households required it - an increase of 445 on the previous year.
The regulator said this meant the council "failed" to comply with its "statutory duty" to offer temporary accommodation in nearly 1 in 3 occasions when people required it.
The regulator said single people were "disproportionately affected" and accounted for 66% of homeless applications and for 83% of those not offered temporary accommodation.
The inquiry found that in some cases the people not accommodated were vulnerable and had approached the council for accommodation on multiple occasions.
The inquiry came after Shelter Scotland launched legal action against Glasgow City Council over its practice of “gatekeeping” – where people who present as homeless are refused their legal rights.
The regulator said that in response to its findings and recommendations Glasgow City developed, and is now implementing, a new temporary accommodation strategy within its wider programme of work "to transform its services for people who are homeless".
The body said it is engaging with with Glasgow City on a monthly basis about its progress and said that the city was "working openly and constructively with us".
But Scotland's biggest city has turned away hundreds of people classed as homeless in the first nine months of last year in an apparent law breach.
Some 518 of over 600 people who were not immediately able to be housed even in temporary accommodation after being classed as homeless this year in Scotland were in Glasgow.
The council had recorded just three instances of homeless people seeking emergency accommodation being turned away in the previous two years - 2021 and 2022 - in the wake of the 2020 inquiry.
The pandemic saw a rise in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation and hotels as temporary accommodation as it was felt it was easier for households to socially distance.
Both Glasgow and Edinburgh Councils have also been told by the regulator to comply with the Unsuitable Accommodation after it emerged that local authorites across Scotland had breached the law that prevents the homeless being placed in 'unsuitable' temporary accommodation more than 11,000 times over a year-and-a-half.
Some 23 out of Scotland's 32 local authorities have admitted breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order, which is legally binding and ensures that people have access to decent living accommodation.
The rate of breaches shot up from an average of nearly 540 per month in 2022 to around 800-a-month in the first half of 2023.
Glasgow had the highest number of breaches at over 6000 over the year-and-a-half to July last year. There were 3375 in the Glasgow city council area last year and over 2700 in the first six months of this year.
The council has been considering legal action against the Home Office as it fears it will breach the law through being unable to cope with the backlog of asylum claims by the Home Office.
It comes on the heels of Home Office plans to make around 2,500 batched asylum decisions in Glasgow by the end of last year, which could cost the council more than £53m.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set targets to clear the asylum backlog by the end of last year.
The council has said that all breaches for the periof of last year involved hotel and bed & breakfast accommodation.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “The council recently declared a housing emergency in Glasgow in recognition of the significant pressures faced in relation to housing supply and homelessness need, and we will work closely with the Scottish Government and all of our other partners in the sector to do all that we can to address this emergency. "There is general recognition of the need for extra resources to not only help those needing immediate access to housing, but increase the supply of homes of all tenure types in the city. We are working on the development of an action plan to explore and implement solutions that will alleviate some of these pressures, and this plan will be delivered in line with the staff and resources available to the council and the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership.”
City of Edinburgh Council's housing, homelessness and fair work convener Jane Meagher said: “We’ve doubled our homeless budget which demonstrates our commitment to prioritising this issue but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem in Edinburgh – an acute shortage of homes of all types and tenures, but especially social rented homes.
“We engage regularly with the Scottish Housing Regulator who has accepted that we’re working hard to develop our services against the backdrop of increasing challenges that are beyond our control.
“We can only do so much with the limited resources we have and ultimately the only solution lies with the Scottish Government providing fair and proper funding so that we can narrow the widening gap between demand and supply of much-needed affordable and social housing in our growing city.”
The regulator has also raised further concerns that its five year projections show "significant reductions" in the number of registered landlords in the social housing sector - which cater for the poorest and most vulnerable in the country - building new homes and in the numbers being constructed.
Social landlords in Scotland are expected to build 4,500 fewer affordable homes over the next five years as they seek to make £15m in spending cuts.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Tackling homelessness is a key priority for the Scottish Government and anyone threatened with or experiencing homelessness is entitled to advice and accommodation if they need it.
“We are committed to reducing the number of households in temporary accommodation and we are acting on the recommendations of the expert temporary accommodation task and finish group. This includes investing at least £60m in 2023-24 as part of our £752m Affordable Housing Supply Programme to support a national acquisition plan.
“The minister for housing meets Glasgow City Council and the City of Edinburgh Council on a regular basis.”
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