Women exposed to sex attacks in Glasgow hotels for homeless

Officials heard of a woman being raped and others subjected to violence and robbery.

Laura Jones, a campaigner for women’s safety, presented a petition to the Integration Joint Board which oversees homelessness services in Glasgow.

(Image: Newsquest)

At a meeting of the IJB Public Engagement Committee, she told councillors and officials of the situation facing many women housed in hotels.

The petition states: “Women are particularly at risk in mixed-sex emergency accommodation, and the hotels are notorious, with increased reports of rapes and sexual assaults.”

Ms Jones highlighted deaths, suicides and overdoses and stated while most of the deaths are young men the rate is higher among women than men.

The Glasgow Times has launched the Action Not Words campaign calling on everyone, from individuals to the authorities, to take action to ensure a safer Glasgow for women and girls.

Ms Jones told the committee of a testimony from a woman.

It read: “In the first hotel I was put in, a man posed as a member of staff, so I let him in. He said he had teabags and sugar for me, and could he check my toilet was working.

“I let him in. He raped me and left.”

Another testimony read: “Over the past months, I’ve stayed in three separate hostels. I have been threatened, assaulted, and robbed. I’ve had no sense of security or safety. 

“There was literally no security keeping men away from women. Pimps hang around outside the front door at night and grab you while you leave or enter the building. The men preyed on the women like we were meat. I saw a girl giving h*** to a fat old man on my second day there, up the stairs. She was crying.

“Addicts are bribed into sex. I saw it in all three hostels I stayed in.”

(Image: Newsquest)

The campaigner is calling for women-only accommodation to be provided to stop women being housed in the hotels and left vulnerable to sexual attack.

Latest figures show there are 2602 people in hotels and B&Bs, and 425 are women.

Despite the policy of ending hotel use, the council spends tens of millions of pounds a year on hotels with the bill rising each year.

Latest figures show in the last year, April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, Glasgow City Council paid out £67,815,500 to hotels.

Ms Jones said the current situation is urgent, and the homelessness trend is showing an increase and added: “We still need emergency accommodation.”

She added: “We already have some female-only facilities, but they are massively oversubscribed. We need an expansion.”

The HSCP has 82 bed places across four supported accommodation services specifically for women who require supported accommodation.

The committee recommended the petition be given further consideration by the Integration Joint Board.

A spokesperson for the HSCP said: “We are very aware of the gendered nature of homelessness and how the needs of women impact on their experience of homelessness services. This is why we have, in addition to our women only supported accommodation, access to over 2400 temporary furnished properties to accommodate people including women.

 “We already have dedicated services for women in place, and we are actively looking to reduce reliance on bed and breakfast type accommodation through the expansion of temporary furnished accommodation.

 “We work closely with partners across the city to ensure robust safeguarding arrangements are in place and that women affected by homelessness have timely access to support, advocacy and specialist services when concerns arise.

 “This approach helps ensure women are supported to access the practical and emotional assistance they need. We acknowledge that there is still work to do to improve the protections afforded to women affected by homelessness, and we are keen to develop and strengthen the support available.”