For the first time in at least six months, official stats showed a drop in refugees in homeless accommodation and hotels.
Refugees coming to Glasgow have been a flashpoint for protests and counter-protests(Image: Getty Images)
An influx of refugees coming to Glasgow appears to have peaked with numbers falling significantly, we can reveal.
For the first time in at least six months, official stats showed a drop with 125 fewer homeless refugees in temporary housing and 107 fewer in council-funded hotels and B&Bs.
It comes as Scotland’s biggest city continues to face a housing and homelessness emergency as a refugee surge has put services under even greater strain.
The crisis has led to right wing protests by mobs outside supposed “asylum hotels”.
Latest figures from Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership, running up until May 15, show the city still struggling with homelessness as rough sleeping has tripled and 3248 kids remain stuck in squalid stopgap housing.
Homeless campaigner Sean Clerkin(Image: Garry F McHarg Daily Record)
Campaigner Sean Clerkin, who obtained the data through freedom of information, said: “These homeless statistics overall reflect a major crisis in Glasgow.
“But for the first time in a long time there has been a real drop in the number of refugees in temporary accommodation and reduced numbers of refugees in hotels / bed & breakfast accommodation.
“Therefore it could be that we have passed the peak in numbers of refugees coming to Glasgow.”
As at May 15, some 5845 refugees with leave to remain in the UK were in temporary accommodation in Glasgow. That’s a drop of 125 on the figure of 5970 recorded on March 30.
On March 30, 2030 refugees were stuck in emergency hotels and B&Bs – introduced because of the housing shortage – but that had fallen more than 5 per cent to 1923 people by May 15.
It marks the lowest the numbers have dropped since January.
It comes as the Home Office has more than halved its asylum claims backlog since 2024 while overall net migration into the UK also fell by about 50 per cent in a year.
Last year’s net migration of 171,000 is a dramatic decline from the peak of 944,000 in early 2023, part of the so-called “Boriswave” – an immigration surge after Boris Johnson’s 2021 Brexit deal came into effect.
Glasgow City Council has repeatedly criticised the UK Government’s push to empty controversial asylum hotels at the city’s expense – with the resulting surge in refugees at one point accounting for half of all homeless applications.
It comes as UK ministers last month ramped up plans to house thousands of asylum seekers in military barracks, which are opposed by refugee and humanitarian charities.
SNP Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said: “We need to be cautious about reading too much into these figures.
“Cities across the UK are still experiencing a major refugee homelessness crisis, due to the Home Office’s decision to effectively abandon people at the point where they are granted asylum in this country.
“That policy is putting huge stress on local authorities and it demands a proper response – backed up with resources – from the UK Government.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “These figures vindicate our approach to restore control to our borders to ease the pressure on public services and local communities.
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