{"id":404428,"date":"2025-09-07T05:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T05:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404428\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T05:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T05:04:11","slug":"scots-councils-spend-100m-on-homeless-hostels-and-bbs-over-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/404428\/","title":{"rendered":"Scots councils spend \u00a3100m on homeless hostels and B&Bs over one year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The “shameful” use of bed and breakfasts and hostels has seen spending by local authorities rise by over 100% over three years.Emma O’Neill<\/strong><\/a> Assistant Live News Editor and Katrine Bussey PA Scotland political editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

04:30, 07 Sep 2025<\/p>\n

Ministers were accused of having “failed to get to grips” with Scotland’s housing emergency(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

Ministers were accused of having “failed to get to grips” with Scotland’s housing emergency<\/a>, as new figures revealed councils forked out more than \u00a3100 million last year on B&B and hostel accommodation for homeless people.<\/p>\n

Labour said an “explosion” in the use of bed and breakfasts and hostels <\/a>had seen spending by local authorities soar by 128% over four years. Data released by councils under Freedom of Information revealed councils spent \u00a3100,393,775.14 on such accommodation in 2024-25.<\/p>\n

This total compares to a bill for hostels and B&B accommodation<\/a> of \u00a344,048,374.94 in 2020-21. Scottish Government figures meanwhile showed that the number of households in temporary accommodation rose by 6% over the year to September 30 2024, when the total reached 16,634.<\/p>\n

Join the <\/strong>Daily Record’s WhatsApp community here<\/strong><\/a> and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

As of September 30 there were 1,283 households who were housed in hostels<\/a>, with 2,680 being put up in bed and breakfasts. The figures revealed there were 480 children living in either hostels or B&Bs at this time.<\/p>\n

Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority, splashed out \u00a354,387,214 on these forms of accommodation in 2024-25, according to the figures, which were released by Labour, with the bill at the City of Edinburgh Council reaching \u00a326,381,593.<\/p>\n

Labour housing spokesperson Mark Griffin said that a “shameful lack of leadership” from the Scottish Government means councils have had to make “difficult decisions<\/a> to ensure people have a place to sleep”. Mr Griffin stated: “There has been an explosion in the use of B&Bs and hostels to house homeless people in recent years.<\/p>\n

“These miserable conditions were banned for a reason, but hundreds of children are still being subjected to the insecurity and instability of living in a hostel or B&B. A shameful lack of leadership from this SNP government has left councils across Scotland making difficult decisions to ensure people have a place to sleep.”<\/p>\n

A homeless person sleeps outside on a mattress(Image: AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Despite Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan outlining an emergency plan to tackle the housing crisis earlier this week, Mr Griffin insisted it was “too little too late”.<\/p>\n

Ms McAllan promised that the Scottish Government will provide \u00a34.9 billion over the next five years to build around 36,000 affordable homes \u2013 informing MSPs that this could provide “up to 24,000 children with a warm, safe home”.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Griffin criticised: “At a time when 10,000 kids don’t have a home to call their own, the SNP’s paltry pledge to help a few hundred of them is an insult. The SNP has failed to get to grips with this housing emergency, but a Scottish Labour government will tackle Scotland’s housing shortage and work with Councils to ensure people can get the safe, secure home they need.”<\/p>\n

Housing Secretary Mairi McAllan commented: “We are determined that everyone in Scotland should have a safe, warm and affordable place to call home. I set out plans this week to invest up to \u00a34.9 billion over the coming four years in the delivery of affordable homes. We will also double our acquisitions fund to \u00a380 million this year \u2013 bringing the total of our additional targeted investment to \u00a3120 million since the emergency was declared.<\/p>\n

“This will support the acquisition of at least 1,200 homes by councils and housing associations and help between 600 to 800 children to quickly move out of temporary accommodation and into permanent homes.<\/p>\n

“This is part of our total investment of \u00a3808 million in affordable housing this year to increase the supply and help reduce homelessness and the number of people in temporary accommodation, including families with children.”<\/p>\n

Don’t miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond – Sign up to our daily newsletter here.<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The “shameful” use of bed and breakfasts and hostels has seen spending by local authorities rise by over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,10650,4884,6332,528,712,18695,8545,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-404428","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-glasgow-city-council","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-homelessness","13":"tag-labour-party","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-scottish-labour","16":"tag-scottish-national-party","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115161274748862635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}