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BBC<\/p>\nGeorgina Hayes and<\/p>\n
Chris ClementsSocial affairs correspondent<\/p>\n
BBC<\/p>\n
Amanda Smith has been on the housing list in Glasgow since September 2024<\/p>\n
Scotland’s latest homelessness figures will be released later, with previous data showing rising numbers year on year.<\/p>\n
Last year’s figures saw record high numbers of homelessness cases as well as record numbers of children living in temporary accommodation.<\/p>\n
Amanda Smith is among the growing numbers of legally homeless people since she was evicted from her privately-rented flat in Glasgow after six years.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old said she was “put out on the streets” by sheriff officers last September after the flat was sold. She has been on the council waiting list for a permanent home ever since. <\/p>\n
After she was evicted, Amanda spent the following 10 months in a homeless hotel.<\/p>\n
A council spokeswoman accepted that Amanda had spent too long in bed and breakfast accommodation, but added that she had declined a temporary furnished flat on two occasions because a permanent move was thought to be imminent.<\/p>\n
The Scottish government declared a national housing emergency in May 2024.<\/p>\n
When her eviction notice arrived in March 2024, Amanda said she put her name on the waiting list for social housing straight away.<\/p>\n
She claimed “nobody at the council did anything” during the six months she spent challenging her eviction.<\/p>\n
Amanda said she called them constantly to ask about her housing situation.<\/p>\n
She said: “All I got was, ‘Oh we don’t have any emergency accommodation, we don’t have any temporary accommodation, we don’t have anything for you.’<\/p>\n
“I never got a place to stay until I was actually put out homeless on the streets by the sheriff officers.”<\/p>\n
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Amanda Smith<\/p>\n
Amanda Smith stayed in a hotel room with her two adult children<\/p>\n
Amanda and her two adult children – aged 23 and 30 – were then placed in a council-funded hotel room for the next 10 months.<\/p>\n
She described the experience as “worse than jail.”<\/p>\n
“In jail you would get to mix with people,” she added.<\/p>\n
“It was the isolation, it was the four walls in that room, just constantly for 10 months. <\/p>\n
“If you were in jail, you’d get three hot meals a day.”<\/p>\n
She claimed that the lock on her door didn’t always work and one night a man walked into her room.<\/p>\n
“My daughter was just out the shower, sitting on our bed in her underwear, and this stranger just walks into the room.<\/p>\n
“I know it was a mistake because he walked straight back out, but it could have been a different scenario.”<\/p>\n
‘People were always fighting’<\/p>\n
Soon Amanda had lost her job as a security guard which led to more financial problems.<\/p>\n
She said her family had to live off instant noodles in their hotel room and food from a soup kitchen for months.<\/p>\n
“It was scary, standing in their queue\u2026 people were always fighting,” she said.<\/p>\n
“They were always arguing over cigarettes, cans of beer and pushing each other about.<\/p>\n
“There was one time a lady grabbed me in the queue and I was a bit frightened and then didn’t go back for a couple of weeks after that.”<\/p>\n
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AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Several councils in Scotland have announced a housing emergency due to social housing shortages<\/p>\n
Amanda said the experience destroyed her self-worth and she often heard people taking drugs near her room.<\/p>\n
“They always used to congregate outside where my bedroom window was in the hotel, that’s all I would hear for 10 months,” she said.<\/p>\n
“And I felt, is that all I’m worth? Am I going to end up like them as well?”<\/p>\n
She said that only one welfare check was provided during this time.<\/p>\n
“You don’t get anybody,” she said. “It’s like you’re put in this hotel and forgotten about.”<\/p>\n
Amanda and her family were eventually placed in a temporary flat in the south of the city while she waits for a permanent home.<\/p>\n
But she says she has never once met her housing case worker in person.<\/p>\n
“I don’t even know what he looks like,” she added.<\/p>\n
“I have to phone them constantly. Not once has my case worker ever picked up the phone and called me.”<\/p>\n
Now it’s been over a month since Amanda heard anything about a permanent social home.<\/p>\n
Glasgow City Council declared a housing emergency<\/a> in November 2023.<\/p>\n A council spokeswoman accepted that Amanda had “spent an unreasonable period in bed and breakfast while (the council) wait for repairs to be completed”.<\/p>\n She said: “Ms Smith was offered a temporary furnished flat on two occasions but, as a permanent move was thought to be imminent, she declined.<\/p>\n “There have been ongoing repair issues to the permanent accommodation we have offered which are not within our control and have been liaising with the housing association to resolve this.<\/p>\n “They did provide an alternative offer to the original one which Ms Smith accepted, however it has an issue with a replacement meter.”<\/p>\n Amanda’s story isn’t unique.<\/p>\n The Scottish government declared a national housing emergency last year due to a severe shortage in social homes and rising private rent costs.<\/p>\n But the number of affordable homes has dropped even further since then.<\/p>\n And the number of live homeless cases and children living in temporary accommodation have reached record highs, at over 31,000 and 10,000 respectively.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, research commissioned by housing groups found that at least 15,600 new affordable homes now need to be built in Scotland each year to meet housing need.<\/p>\n This represents an increase of almost 50% since 2020 and double the government’s current target.<\/p>\n ‘Biggest cost pressure’<\/p>\n While Edinburgh had the largest number of homeless households, Glasgow’s problem has worsened – with 3,700 families in temporary accommodation in September 2024.<\/p>\n The growth in homeless applications has been linked to the asylum backlog.<\/p>\n
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