Families could be waiting more than 100 years to get a social rented home with three or more bedrooms in Glasgow.
A homelessness crisis and a chronic lack of larger properties for families with two or more children has led to thousands of people stuck in overcrowded homes on waiting lists with little prospect of getting to the top.
The Glasgow Times has investigated the situation after speaking to a woman who is living in a one-bedroom flat with her three children and who was told is not a priority
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We asked a number of housing associations in the city how many homes of three or more bedrooms they have and how many people are waiting to be rehoused to one of that size.
The results were startling.
We heard back from four associations, large, medium and small, which between them, have more than 50,000 homes in Glasgow.
Queen’s Cross, one of the largest in the north of Glasgow, has 479 homes with three or more bedrooms and 1372 households on the list.
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It was only able to allocate 10 in the last year, meaning it would take 137 years before all needs are met.
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A spokesperson said there is a shortage of larger homes in the north of the city and across Glasgow.
They added: “The provision of larger homes is complex and depends on a wide range of factors and the combination of these which will vary between registered social landlords and individual developments.”
New Gorbals Housing Association has been responsible for the regeneration of the Southside area transforming it into a community with sought-after new social housing.
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It has 376 larger homes in its stock and 1024 households on a waiting list for them.
It let out 12 last year, giving a timescale of 85 years to meet the needs of everyone on that list.
Fraser Stewart, director of New Gorbals HA, said: “There is a recognised shortage of all property size accommodation throughout both the Gorbals, Glasgow, and the country.
“At present there are approximately 4,000 applicants awaiting rehousing in just the Gorbals for properties of all sizes.
“In the last reporting year 2024/25 we let approximately 90 homes to these groups. Essentially if we stopped taking new applicants today, it would take us roughly 40 years to clear the backlog.”
The success of the regeneration project has led to increased demand for Gorbals.
Mr Stewart, added: “There continues to be great demand for family sized accommodation in the Gorbals, our latest development, which is due to come off site in the next few months, will provide 10, 4 and 5 bedroom homes,
“However, while it will not scratch the surface of the overwhelming demand that New Gorbals and other social landlords face daily, it will make a considerable difference to those families who are allocated them.”
Wheatley Homes Glasgow, the city’s largest social landlord, has 9504 homes with three or more bedrooms in its overall stock of 42,197 properties.
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In the last year, it let 326 of them but there are 5187 people on their waiting list for a larger home.
That means it could take 16 years for everyone on the list to get a house of the size they need.
A spokesperson for Wheatley Homes Glasgow, said: “In Glasgow, Wheatley has committed to giving 60% of its new lets each year to homeless households.
“We advertise all other available homes to rent on our website ‘MyHousing’. As of April 4, 2025 we have 15 properties available.
“New adverts are added each Tuesday and Wednesday. For general available properties, we offer a choice-based letting system and, once applicants have their banding, it is up to them to note interest on properties.”
Govan Housing Association is a smaller social landlord in the southwest of Glasgow.
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It has 209 three or four-bedroom homes and 228 people on their waiting list for that size.
It let 14 in the last year, meaning 16 years before all on the list could be rehoused.
Further analysis of social housing stock city-wide by the Glasgow Times found the number of three or more bedroom homes is far outstripped by smaller properties by four to one.
Across Glasgow, there are 110,172 homes from Registered Social Landlords.
Studio/bedsits, one and two beds account for 87,513 of them and just 22,659 have three, four or more bedrooms.
David Bookbinder, director of the Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations, said it is more difficult for families to get rehoused through waiting lists than it was previously.
He said: “Balancing supply and demand is always tricky – around 50% of all social lets go to homeless households, and most of these are single-person households. Fewer people are housed through the housing list than used to be the case, as a result of acute homelessness pressures, so any household on the list has less chance of being rehoused than was the case a number of years ago.”
He added: “The supply of larger homes, especially those with more than three bedrooms, has long been a challenge in Glasgow and across Scotland. By far the most common property size across social housing in the city is two-bedroom flats.
“I know the Council always tries to prioritise the provision of larger family housing within its new build programme, but across the country, new build supply has fallen in recent years from a peak around 2017/18, so this has inevitably had an impact.
“Glasgow also uses its power to fund ‘acquisitions’ to boost the supply of larger homes. This year the programme is heavily inclined towards larger family housing.”
Carolyn Lochhead, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, director of external affairs said: “Families face real stress and anxiety when their home is too small to meet their needs: we’ve heard this directly from people as part of our Still Waiting campaign for more social housing.”
On larger properties, she added, “It’s clear that we need many more of them to support families and tackle the city’s housing emergency.”
Are you affected by overcrowding and stuck on a waiting list? Let the Glasgow Times know by contacting Stewart Paterson at stewart.paterson@heraldandtimes.co.uk