Charity used official government and FoI data to estimate 307,000 people sleeping rough or living in inadequate housing
Britain is in the grip of a homelessness epidemic with 300,000 people now without permanent accommodation.
New figures released by Shelter, using Freedom of Information legislation and official government statistics, show one in every 200 people in the UK are sleeping rough, or accommodated in temporary housing, bed and breakfast rooms, or hostels.
The statistics show an increase of 13,000 over the past year and have led to calls from campaigners for urgent action to remedy the crisis.
In Scotland last year there were 28,297 households assessed as homeless and at any one time there were 10,873 households in temporary accommodation. It is estimated that 5,000 people sleep rough on Scotland’s streets throughout the year.
Shelter and Shelter Scotland have launched an urgent appeal in response to the "mounting crisis," calling on the public to support its frontline advisers working to help people to stay in their home or find a new one.
Alison Watson, deputy director of Shelter Scotland, said: “It’s shocking to think that today, more than 300,000 people in Britain are waking up homeless.
“Some will have spent the night sleeping rough on our streets or in unsuitable temporary accommodations while others were crammed into dingy hostels or bed and breakfasts – some with their children. Shockingly, many are simply unaccounted for.
“On a daily basis, we speak to hundreds of people and families who are desperately trying to escape the devastating trap of homelessness.
“A trap that is tightening thanks to decades of failure to build enough affordable homes and the impact of harsh welfare cuts which are now, for many, being compounded by the roll-out of universal credit.
“As this crisis continues to unfold, the work of our frontline services remains absolutely critical. We will do all we can to make sure no-one is left to fight homelessness on their own.
“But we cannot achieve this alone; we urgently need the public’s support to be there for everyone who needs us this winter.”
"I got no support"
Stacey Timony (40) from Edinburgh is a self-employed mother who is homeless. She has been in temporary accommodation with her four children for 18 months.
They became homeless when she was asked to leave a private let and found herself priced out of the market, despite help from the children’s dad with whom she has a supportive relationship.
A two-month battle with the City of Edinburgh Council to get into temporary housing saw them moved from B&B to B&B and sleeping on floors with friends or family when the council couldn’t accommodate them.
Stacey believes the council deliberately tried to put her off accessing her rights to temporary housing.
“I never thought I’d be in this position. I used to have a mortgage when my eldest children were small but the market has changed and housing is just so unaffordable,” she said.
“The council had eight weeks’ notice that I was losing my home but did nothing to prevent us having to go through the homelessness system. Looking back, I can see that the council just tried to scaremonger me into not going through the process of applying for homelessness assistance.
"They made every bit of the process unbearable. There was no understanding, no information, no support and no guidance.
"It was one of the scariest times of my life."
