Shocking number of homeless people in Glasgow revealed

The inability of supply of accommodation to keep up with rising demand means the number of people in hotels and B&Bs has more than doubled, with 1500 more people living in these properties.

And the hotel room bill for the council has gone up to more than £45m for nine months.

The latest figures show on January 1, there were 9215 people living in temporary accommodation in Glasgow.

Last year it was 8170 people, a rise of 12.7%.

The number in hotels and B&Bs increased from 1089 in January 2025 to 2626 people in January this year and 428 were women.

Glasgow City Council said it has limited accommodation available.

The total for temporary accommodation includes 3357 children.

Glasgow declared a housing emergency in late 2024 and told the UK Government an exacerbating factor was a high number of asylum seekers who, after being given leave to remain, have no option but to present as homeless.

There are 5816 people in households where the main applicant has leave to remain living in temporary accommodation.

There were 1937 people who have refugee status living in the hotels or B&Bs.

The figures were released to the Scottish Tenants Organisation and shared with the Glasgow Times.

Sean Clerkin, campaign co-ordinator of the STO said: “These homeless statistics for Glasgow are the worst on record with 9,215 homeless people trapped in temporary accommodation with the highest number of homeless children ever recorded in the city at 3,357 being in temporary accommodation.

“The profiteers of homeless misery who own the hellhole hotels have been given over £45 million so far, which could be better used by the public authorities directly building, owning and controlling good quality temporary accommodation, especially for women and children who are prey to sexual violence and exploitation in these hellhole private hotels.

“The solution is that we need the Scottish and British Governments to recognise the dire situation in Glasgow and treat it as a special case with more funding from both Governments to give all of our homeless people including refugees a warm, dry and secure home which is a human right for all.”

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “The city is in a housing emergency.

“We have limited accommodation which leads to higher numbers in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

“While we do not refuse accommodation to those who are entitled to it, there are difficulties in securing places late at night.

“We continue to work closely with partners to manage the increased demand and urge anyone who knows they do not have a place to go to get in touch via the appropriate route as early as possible.”