Lives are being placed at “serious risk” because a lack of accommodation is forcing increasing numbers of homeless people to sleep rough, campaigners have warned.

Everyone Home Collective (EHC), a group of about 40 charitable and academic organisations focused on housing and homelessness, has written to the Scottish Government calling for action to address an “accelerating and avoidable rough sleeping crisis.”

They pointed to Scottish Government figures showing 2,931 people had slept rough before making a homelessness application between April 2023 and March 2024, up from 2,425 the year before and higher than the pre-pandemic figure, the group said.

The EHC blamed the rise on the housing emergency and use of “unsuitable temporary accommodation” in Scotland, and said the situation was being worsened by the cost-of-living crisis, austerity policies and “inadequate social security”.

The EHC said: “Every person who is forced to sleep rough is one too many.

READ MORE:

Homelessness in Scotland at the highest level for more than a decade

 

Coalition of Scot charities issue 'stark' youth homelessness warning

“Being left with no choice but to sleep in doorways and tunnels and parks severely damages people’s health and wellbeing, risks their safety and their lives, strips them of dignity and affects our wider communities too.

“In Scotland in 2024, no one should be left with no choice but to sleep on the street, and we emphasise that forcing people to do so at any time of year and particularly during winter puts their life at risk.”

The EHC has called on the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to investigate a potential breach of government obligations to protect the fundamental right to life, under the 1998 Human Rights Act.

It said the lack of emergency accommodation “is putting people’s fundamental right to life at risk”, and pointed out that the Government had a duty to protect life where they know – or should know – that it is at risk.

The campaign group also pointed to a doubling in the number of households becoming homeless from supported accommodation, which rose from 932 in 2022-23 to 1,978 in 2023-4.

It said this increase was largely due to asylum seekers who had been granted leave to remain in the UK being forced to sleep rough because of a lack of UK Government “transition support”.

In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the group said this situation was “contributing to very significant pressure on housing and homelessness services”, and asked for more support for Scottish local authorities to ensure a “smooth transition from asylum accommodation to settled housing”.

Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council – which is a member of EHC – said: “Homelessness is an assault on dignity, social inclusion and the right to life.

“No one in Scotland, including people who have fled violence and persecution to seek safety here, should ever have to sleep on the streets.

“The Home Office must support local councils to ensure everyone transitioning out of asylum accommodation has a safe place to stay, while all governments have a duty to respond urgently to help the thousands of lives put at risk as a result of this accelerating crisis.”

Housing secretary Paul McLennan said: “The Scottish Government is clear that everyone should live in a safe, warm, affordable, high quality and energy efficient home that meets their needs.

“Local authorities have a legal duty to provide accommodation to anyone at risk of homelessness and nobody should have to sleep rough in Scotland.

“We are making available record funding of more than £14 billion to councils in 2024-25 to deliver a range of services, including homelessness services – a real-terms increase of 4.3% compared to the previous year.

“Over and above the funding for homelessness provided through the local government settlement, we have a £100 million multi-year ending homelessness together fund for specific action to prevent homelessness, end rough sleeping and reduce temporary accommodation use.”

Professor Angela O’Hagan, SHRC chairwoman, said: “The commission is concerned that persistent and systemic poverty in Scotland are linked to human rights denials for too many people, including the struggle to achieve basic rights such as adequate housing, healthcare and food.

“The Everyone Home Collective is raising an important challenge about the adequacy of plans to provide for the right to adequate shelter this winter for everyone who needs it.”

She added: “As Scotland’s human rights watchdog we will continue to press all those who bear responsibility for human rights in Scotland to take a human rights-based approach to developing urgent policies and practices, to ensure that everyone in Scotland can live a life of human dignity, including a safe place to live.”

The EHC was issuing its call to action at the start of an annual national two-day homelessness conference in Perth.