AN extra 100 homes are to be provided by a Glasgow-based social housing group to help tackle rough sleeping beyond the pandemic.

Wheatley Group announced it is to increase its allocation to Housing First, a partnership scheme which offers homeless people or those living in temporary accommodation the chance of a mainstream tenancy.

The extra 100 homes are in addition to the 200 homes Wheatley committed to Housing First following Social Bite’s Sleep in the Park fundraising events in December 2018. 

Hotel rooms have been provided for around 140 people across Scotland during lockdown after emergency funding was allocated by the government. 

READ MORE: Council details new action plan to tackle homelesness in Glasgow 

Charities that support homeless people have said the pandemic offers a good opportunity to end rough sleeping permanently by finding long-term solutions, such as offering people the chance of a tenancy.

The Wheatley Group has also pledged to “flip” 150 temporary furnished homes, turning them into permanent homes for the homeless people occupying them and also handed over 300 empty homes to local authorities at the start of the pandemic.

READ MORE: Plan to take homeless from hotels to tenancies after lockdown ends 

Martin Armstrong, Chief Executive, said: “We’re doing all we can, as Scotland’s largest housing, care and property-management group, to use our size and scale to help the most vulnerable people in our communities, including the homeless."

Josh Littlejohn, co-founder and chief executive of Social Bite, said: “This commitment from Wheatley Group will be instrumental in helping people transition into permanent 
housing.”