Councils across Scotland have broken the law that prevents the homeless including children and pregnant mothers being placed in unfit housing more than 15000 times over five years.

Some 24 out of Scotland's 32 local authorities have admitted they have breached the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO) since 2019 which is legally binding and ensures that people have access to decent living accommodation. In 2019 there were just 10.

New estimates on the breach of the rules over the use of temporary accommodation based on details gathered from Scotland's 32 local authorities show that the rate of breaches has risen over fivefold since new rules came in in 2020.

It has gone from around 112 a month in 2021 to nearly 620 per month last year.

There were at least 7437 breaches in 2023 - a rise of over 2300 (45%) in a year.

The Herald investigation into the housing scandal has revealed that every day 50 Scots children are being hit by homelessness while the numbers languishing in halfway house temporary accommodation because they cannot be found settled homes has more than trebled in 20 years.

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Some 18,400 children are included among the 64,000 Scots within families who have been seeking homelessness support from councils last year.

The number of children in homeless families who are living in halfway house temporary accommodation because of a lack of settled permanent homes has more than trebled in the past 20 years.

Meanwhile, councils have spent over £720m of public money on placing the homeless in temporary accommodation such as bed and breakfasts and hotels over the last five years because of a housing shortage.

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It was running at over £190m in 2023, a rise of nearly £30m (18%) from the previous year. In 2019 the cost was at just over £100m.

Scotland's biggest city, Glasgow tops the costs table with a £54.526m spend in 2023, nearly twice as much as the pre-Covid year of 2019 when costs were at £27m.

The Scottish Tenants Organisation has suggested that penalties should be imposed on those local authorities that continue to break the law saying: "These thousands of breaches must not be tolerated and instead punitive fines should be imposed against all local authorities that break the law."

National tenants' rights organisation Living Rent said the breaches were the result of "the concerted underfunding of councils and social housing".

It comes after The Herald revealed a Scottish charity which supports the homeless and has enjoyed the support of celebrities and royalty has warned that landlords are "profiteering from human misery" as the nation struggles to cope with a housing emergency.

Social Bite, which counts George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex among its supporters condemned the state of temporary accommodation for the homeless referring to urine-stained mattresses, bed bugs, and out of date food and said some would be "unsuitable for any human being to find shelter in".

Its 38-year-old founder and executive director Josh Littlejohn said urgent changes were required to the "broken temporary accommodation system" warning there is "no incentive for private operators to support people out of homelessness or invest in any kind of quality standards".

He said that the provision of temporary accommodation "should not be left to the profiteers" and that the charity sector should provide the solutions which councils can commission.

In 2019, the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that breaches "should not be tolerated" and indicated that it would consider introducing sanctions on those councils that fail to comply as part of plans to "transform temporary accommodation".

She said that the then housing minister Kevin Stewart had spoken to councils in breach of the orders which at that point amounted to over 400.

“Temporary accommodation provides an important safety net in emergencies and our Ending Homelessness Together action plan is very clear that this accommodation must be high quality, with stays as short as possible,” she said.

Glasgow, which declared a housing emergency in November, has registered the highest number of breaches estimated to number nearly 3300 in 2023 - rising eighteenfold from 2021 when there were just 185 breaches.

In Scotland's capital Edinburgh, which declared an emergency the same month, the breaches have soared by over 250% from 439 in 2021 to 1570 in 2023.

The Scottish Government unfit housing order was extended to all households from May, 2020. The law previously applied only when housing pregnant women or families with children.

Local authorities were given an exemption from having to comply with the extended law until September 2021 if the temporary accommodation was being used for self-isolation or social distancing purposes, or if the council could not find suitable accommodation due to the impact of Covid on supply.

Unsuitable accommodation orders were brought in to provide protection to families and ensure they do not stay in temporary accommodation such as B&Bs for long periods of time.

Local authorities are in breach when placing a homeless household in accommodation not meeting the requirements of the order for more than seven days.

A property is deemed unsuitable if it does not meet certain criteria, for example it is not wind and watertight, does not meet minimum safety standards or lacks adequate bedrooms, toilet and personal washing facilities.

Experts say that the order seeks to prevent the long-term use of hotels, hostels and shelters.

Local authorities are in breach when placing a homeless household in accommodation not meeting the requirements of the order for more than seven days.

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the Scottish Tenants Organisation added: "The toleration of these massive breaches would soon change if fines of thousands of pounds were imposed on all guilty parties with homeless people being treated with respect and dignity with their basic needs being met in that they would be allocated accommodation that is warm, dry, secure and safe.

"This has to be the way forward on this issue."

Some ten local authorities have now declared a housing emergency declaration.

Argyll and Bute were first to make its declaration in June, 2023, followed by Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fife, West Dunbartonshire, Scottish Borders, West Lothian, South Lanarkshire, Angus and Dumfries and Galloway.

West Lothian, one of eight has the third highest numbers of breaches of the Scottish local authorities with 544 in 2023, three times that recorded in 2021.

Aberdeen City Council has seen infringements rise from none in 2021 to 362 in 2023 with Dumfries and Galloway which also had an unblemished record in 2021, ending up with 281 breaches last year.

The Dundee City Council area has seen the breaches surge soaring from just 14 in 2021 to 247 in 2023 and in East Renfrewshire it has leapt from 21 to 237 over the same period.

Aditi Jehangir, Living Rent chairman said: "This systematic failure to house the most vulnerable in our society should force all our politicians into action. Our message to the council’s and the wider government is clear. Scotland has the resources to stop this: no one should be left on the streets.

"For three quarters of councils to have broken the law 15,000 times and failed to house vulnerable people, is dangerous and neglectful. The inability to house people in settled accommodation is leading to a crisis of homelessness.

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"Sanctions will not be effective until councils have the resources to be able to provide temporary accommodation. And importantly, the Scottish government needs to ensure people are able to be housed permanently by building more social housing."

Those who have yet to record any breaches in the last five years include Perth and Kinross, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire and North Lanarkshire.

Ms Jehangir added: "The continued failure to build social homes means that the thousands in temporary accommodation are joining the many already on social housing waiting lists.

"Housing should be a right not a luxury and the Scottish government has it within its powers to provide greater funding to councils and invest in building social housing."

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The Scottish Government's affordable homes budget, aimed at cutting homelessness and avoid the use of temporary accommodation such as B&Bs hastaken a cumulative hit of over £280m over the past three years without taking inflation into account - based against the 2021/22 allocation of £779.776m - despite a pledge by outgoing First Minister Humza Yousaf of a £80m uplift for affordable housing over the next two years.

Housing campaigners have been concerned by a £196m (26%) cut to the budget in the 2024/25 alone, without taking into account inflation, with the spending plans set at £555.862m before an extra £40m was promised by Mr Yousaf.

If the budget had kept up with inflation since 2021/22 in 2024/25, it is estimated the spending plans would have been at £958.32m.

When inflation has been taken into account, instead of getting £2.6bn over the three years - the affordable homes budget is at £2.06bn - an estimated drop of £570m.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Increasing housing stock is key to reducing the use of temporary accommodation. Since 2007, we have delivered more than 131,000 affordable homes, with more than 93,000 of those being for social rent and we will invest nearly £600 million in affordable housing in 2024-25.”

Maureen Chalmers, spokesman for community wellbeing with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said: "Presently there is a chronic undersupply of housing across many parts of the country. As a result, local authorities continue to work with the Scottish Government and other partners to alleviate and respond to the housing crisis with the aim of reducing and eventually preventing UAOs."