ALMOST 5,000 Scottish children are currently homeless, according to official figures.
Campaigners last night called on the Scottish government to tackle the issue after the number of youngsters living in temporary accommodation rose by 15 per cent in just one year.
Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “This is simply not good enough.”
Councils received around 8,500 applications for homeless assistance between April and June this year, a seven per cent drop on the same period in 2014.
However, there were 626 more children living in temporary accommodation at the end of June than the previous year, taking the total to around 4,900.
The figures come from the quarterly Homelessness in Scotland bulletin produced by Scotland’s chief statistician.
Overall, there were almost 10,700 households in temporary homeless accommodation as of June 30, up 470 on the same period in 2014.
More than a quarter of these were were families with children, an increase of 11 per cent.
Rates varied across the country, with the largest rises in households in temporary accommodation in Glasgow, which was up by almost 300 cases, and the Highlands, were cases increased by 150.
In contrast, the number of households fell by 47 in West Lothian, which experienced the biggest drop, and by 45 in Perth and Kinross.
Overall, 25 households which included children or a pregnant woman were placed in bed and breakfast accommodation, a year-on-year rise of 11 households.
Brown said the figures laid bare the “tragedy” of homelessness, saying: “These figures show that 8,500 households suffered the personal tragedy of homelessness between April and July this year and that there has been a five per cent increase in the number of households forced to stay in temporary accommodation – including a 15 per cent increase in homeless children.
“While it is welcome news that the overall number of people being assessed as homeless has continued to decrease, these figures indicate a growing bottleneck of people stuck in temporary accommodation due to the huge lack of affordable housing, which is a major cause for concern.
“Alarm bells should be ringing that Scotland may be slipping back on the progress it has made on tackling homelessness post devolution.
“Now is the time for bold and renewed action. The Scottish Government needs to ensure that a major affordable house-building programme is implemented before things get even worse.”
Graeme Brown added: “Earlier this year the Commission on Housing and Wellbeing reported that homeless children missed an average of 55 school days per year due to their home situation, impacting their education, health and life chances.
“So the real tragedy of these figures is the 626 extra children being forced to live in temporary accommodation.
“We must make major changes now so that no child has to suffer the trauma of homelessness in the future.”
Housing minister Margaret Burgess said the number of affected children was actually down from 5,500 in 2007.
However, she said she was “concerned” by the latest numbers, adding: “My officials have contacted the 11 local authorities who have seen increases of more than 10 children over the past year to ask why the number has increased.
“We have had a number of explanations and councils have expressed a commitment to reducing the numbers which the Scottish government welcome and we will monitor progress.
“We will continue to work closely with local authorities, housing associations and the private and voluntary sectors to prevent homelessness and ensure everyone has access to a warm and safe place to stay.
“Preventing people from experiencing the misery of homelessness is a priority, and against a challenging financial background we are doing everything we can to help increase housing supply, backed by more than £1.7 billion of investment in the lifetime of this parliament.”
Alison Todd, chief executive of Children 1st, said: “Every child is entitled to feel safe and secure at home and has the right to a standard of living good enough to meet their needs.
“Sadly, the growing pressures families are under in Scotland mean for many children home is not always a place of safety.
“Our family support workers see daily how poverty and homelessness is affecting more and more of the children and families we work with.”
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