Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom: Council plans to lease 1,000 private rented homes for temporary housing

Glasgow City Council plans to spend more than £177 million to lease 1,000 homes from the private rented sector to respond to a growing homelessness crisis. The council is under pressure to secure more temporary accommodation. More than 2,700 people are being housed in hotels, which cost the council almost £68 million last year, and there are already just under 10,000 people in temporary accommodation secured from housing associations in the city.

The new homes would be leased for four years. The council hopes the arrangement will reduce the need for hotels and bed and breakfasts and will make more permanent tenancies available, since relying on social landlords for temporary accommodation reduces the number of properties available for permanent tenancies.

The council has invited private-sector housing providers to tender for four contracts of 250 homes each. The tender describes the accommodation as being for single people, couples, and households with children who are experiencing homelessness, along with a complete property management service. Successful bidders will need to be on the Scottish Letting Agent Register and must provide accommodation that is “fully furnished and is safe, warm and suitable for occupation.” Suppliers may offer apartments, maisonettes, houses of various types, and converted or purpose-built buildings, including those above business premises. The council has also specified that a proportion of the properties “must be capable of meeting the needs of households with mobility impairments, sensory impairments, or other accessibility requirements.”

The council has breached the unsuitable accommodation order thousands of times, according to the report, under which people are only allowed to stay in hotels and bed and breakfasts for up to seven days. Laura Jones of the Scottish Tenants Organisation has campaigned for dedicated specialist accommodation for women so they can leave hotels, where, she says, many face sexual violence from men. Protecting women in such settings is a matter of safety and dignity (Psalm 82:3).

Jones said that while 1,000 more homes is good and she appreciated the work behind it, “it is not enough to deal with the scale of the crisis.” She said the council would still need hotels and that specialist services with wraparound care for women were still needed. “We feel they should be prioritising women for these additional homes but we want everyone to have access to accommodation,” she said.

Councillor Allan Casey, city convener for homelessness services, said the council was progressing a tender that would significantly increase access to good-quality, suitable private-rented accommodation for households experiencing homelessness. He said the aim was to increase dispersed accommodation across the city as a more appropriate alternative to hotels and bed and breakfasts. The tender is part of the council’s ten-year Temporary Accommodation Strategy, which aims to reduce reliance on hotels and bed and breakfasts and to ensure homeless households spend the shortest possible time in temporary accommodation.

Source: Read the original report