Homelessness: demographics

Demographics

The Scottish Government publish statistics on homelessness applications, homelessness prevention and households in temporary accommodation. In the five years preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, an average of 35,800 applications per year were made to Scottish councils under statutory homelessness legislation, of which an average of 29,700 households were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Since the introduction of Covid-19 restrictions, the number of homelessness applications and assessments has fallen, but the number of households in temporary accommodation has increased.

Based on applications to Scottish councils 621Kb) made during 2020/21:

• There were 33,792 applications to Scottish councils under statutory homelessness legislation, of which 27,571 households (comprising 42,149 people) were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness
• 58% of main applicants in households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness were male.
• 58% were aged under 35
• 70% were single households (primarily single men), and 21% were single parents.
• 87% were of White ethnicity

Experiences associated with homelessness

A recent project attempted to quantify the overlaps between experiences of homelessness, substance dependence, and offending in Scotland - referred to as severe and multiple disadvantage - using administrative data sources (Bramley et al 2019). It estimated that over the course of a year, 5,700 people in Scotland experience all three of these issues - approximately 1.6 people per thousand. When considering lifetime experiences, homelessness was the most common of these. Factors associated with severe and multiple disadvantage included being under 40, single, white, male, long-term sickness and/or disability, and above all both household poverty and material deprivation.

Temporary accommodation

Temporary accommodation includes temporary furnished accommodation, hostels, and bed and breakfast accommodation. Statistics collected by the Scottish Government indicate that, in the five years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, there were typically around 10-11,000 households in temporary accommodation at any time in Scotland, largely because of long waiting lists for permanent social housing (Scottish Government 2021). The number of households in temporary accommodation appears to have increased during 2020/21, to 13,097 on 31st March 2021; the average number of days in temporary accommodation has also been increasing in recent years, from 176 in 2017/18 to 199 in 2020/21. At the end of March 2021, 28% (3,645) of households in temporary accommodation included children or a pregnant woman, representing a total of 7,130 children (Scottish Government 2021).

Rough sleeping

• There is no formal census of the number of people sleeping rough in Scotland, in contrast to other areas of the UK
• However, analysis of Scottish Household Survey data suggests that prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, around 5,300 adults slept rough at least once in a year in Scotland: this equates to an estimate of just over 700 people on a typical night (Fitzpatrick et al 2019). This source is complemented by data on households applying to councils for homelessness support, which found that the proportion of applicants reporting rough sleeping in the three months prior to application had fallen substantially in the preceding 10 years (Watts et al 2021). Rough sleeping is primarily concentrated in Scottish cities.
• Reports of rough sleeping among people applying to councils for homelessness support had fallen in recent years. In 2019-20 8% (2,884) of applicants reported having slept rough at least once in the three months before applying for assistance, compared to 13% (6,571) in 2002/3 (Scottish Government 2020c).
• Since the Covid-19 pandemic, efforts to provide safe and self-contained accommodation for people sleeping rough have resulted in further declines in the number and proportion of people reporting having slept rough prior to applying for local authority support. Service providers have also reported drastic declines in the number of people sleeping on the streets in major cities, though the 'flow' of new people in this situation was perceived to be fairly steady (Watts et al 2021).