A third of Scotland's local authorities are coming under the close scrutiny of the housing regulator in the wake of concerns that they are unable to meet their legal duties for putting a roof over people's heads, the Herald can reveal.

Scotland's housing regulator has confirmed that 10 out of the nation's 32 councils are either suffering systemic failure in the services provided to people who are homeless or at heightened risk of it.

It is already having discussions with Edinburgh and Glasgow which the regulator says are suffering systemic failure, both of which have declared a symbolic housing emergency.

It further says there is a heightened risk of systemic failure with Aberdeen City, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee City, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Fife, Stirling and West Lothian.

Councils have a legal obligation to offer temporary accommodation when they assess a person or household as unintentionally homeless.

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.

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 emerged that those deemed to be at heightened risk of systemic failure have been told that they must "continue best efforts its statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation when it should and to comply with its legal duties to comply with the Unsuitable Accommodation Order. They have also been told to keep regulator updated on its capacity to meet its legal duties.

The housing regulator, which has powers to protect tenants' rights, has said it will meet with those councils on a quarterly basis to discuss its homelessness services.

The Herald previously revealed that both Glasgow and Edinburgh councils were expected to hold meetings with the regulator over the state of their services and were expected to provide assurance of best efforts to provide suitable temporary accommodation for the homeless, in line with their legal duty.

The regulator warned ministers in February, last year 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.

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It has warned that "systemic failure requires a systemic intervention that is beyond our regulatory powers".

The Scottish Tenants Organisation said that development shows that the Scottish Government is "doing nothing about the housing emergency" and said The Herald's Charter for Change "must be enacted" by ministers "without delay".

The charter put together in collaboration with a range of key groups including professional standards body Chartered Institute for Housing, homelessness charity Crisis and national tenants' rights organisation Living Rent calls for an urgent increase in the building of affordable homes, a cut in the numbers of children in temporary accommodation, improvement in funding for services to support homelessness, making the most use of exiting properties to help people in need and an agreement over a clear emergency housing action plan, among other measures.

Council officers have been warning ministers of a failure in coping with the homeless in Scotland with over three in four local authorities unable to meet their legal duties for putting a roof over people's heads.

A red flag assessment carried out by the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) shows that some 25 of Scotland's 32 local authorities are breaching the law in dealing with the homeless as the crisis deepens.

It has led to calls from housing campaigners for the First Minister John Swinney to take action.

Council officers have warned ministers that the homes calamity is only going to get worse, despite the Scottish Government's symbolic housing emergency proclamation in mid-May.

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The ALACHO study covering 96 officers in all of Scotland's local authorities found that just three councils are managing to cope with the current situation with no obvious risk of it getting worse.

It shows what ALACHO described as a "general deterioration" in confidence to meet statutory obligations to deal with homelessness in a survey carried out between June 6 and 28 a month after the Scottish Government's national housing emergency declaration.

The ALACHO traffic light system set out for the study found that 25 (78%) of the 32 Scottish councils had registered a red flag on at least one of three key aspects of their services in June meaning they were "struggling to cope" and had "regular statutory breaches". In November, last year, there were 19 and in November 2021, there were just five.

The survey found that 15 out of the 32 councils (46.9%) assessed all three key aspects of their service as “red”. In November, last year there were 12 and in November, 2021 there were just two.

The current triple red flag authorities are Aberdeen, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Orkney, Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.

Only Aberdeenshire, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, covering the Western Isles, and Moray said it was confident of meeting all its duties all the time.

The three key aspects surveyed involved the legal obligation to offer temporary accommodation when they assess a person or household as unintentionally homeless, the ability to meet the statutory requirement to not place the homeless in 'unsuitable' homes and the ability to supply permanent lets.

ALACHO said that the survey demonstrated "continuing evidence" of rising number of people presenting as homeless, record numbers in temporary accommodation, "widespread" statutory breaches of duties to homeless and rising waiting times for those in need of a home.

The breach of the rules over providing unfit housing are 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 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.

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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.

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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.

A 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.

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 the Scottish Government's affordable homes budget, aimed at cutting homelessness and avoid the use of temporary accommodation such as B&Bs has taken 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.

Some ten local authorities have declared a housing emergency declaration.

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Among those not identified in the housing regulator list is Argyll and Bute, West Dunbartonshire, Scottish Borders and Angus which have made symbolic housing emergency declarations. 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.

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator for the Scottish Tenants Organisation (STO), said: "The new Labour Government at Westminster could help by giving Scotland a small increase in capital spending and pressurise the Scottish Government into reversing the cuts in the affordable housing supply budget and to give more funding to local authorities to improve their homeless services."

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.

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.

The Scottish Government was contacted for comment.