DOZENS of homelessness campaigners are staging a public protest at the City Chambers in Glasgow.

The protesters are aiming to raise awareness of what they say is “the shocking scale of unlawful activity from Glasgow City Council in denying homeless people their rights.”

Led by housing and homelessness charity, Shelter, the team claims the latest official statistics show the council broke the law 3,025 times last year “by not fulfilling their legal duty to provide homeless people that came to them for help with temporary accommodation.”

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Shetler said the unlawful practice of denying homeless people their right to temporary accommodation is known as “gatekeeping”.

Shelter Scotland said it has been keeping a log of this activity where homeless people are turned away from Glasgow City Council and come to the charity for help.

Between July 2016 and November 2017, Shelter Scotland claims to have recorded over 100 cases of gatekeeping from Glasgow City Council.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “Quite simply, enough is enough.”

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He added: “Glasgow City Council should hang its head in shame. It is shocking and completely unacceptable that, on more than 3,000 occasions last year, the city denied homeless applicants their rights by breaking the law.

“It cannot be right that one of the UK’s largest councils can act unlawfully in this way and treat some of the most vulnerable people in our society with such disregard. Shelter Scotland believes everyone has the right to a home.

“As a result of Glasgow Council’s systemic failures on homelessness, our services and legal teams in the city have been inundated by people saying they had nowhere to go and that the council had turned them away, denying them their right to a home and support.

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“There is no excuse for this. This unlawful practice of ‘gatekeeping’ must stop now. Glasgow City Council must ensure everyone who has a right to housing support is granted that right and Scotland’s progressive homelessness law is upheld.

“One year on from the new city administration’s landmark Housing and Homelessness Summit in 2017, it is deeply disappointing to see little or no progress has been made on this vital issue.

“Glasgow City Council must immediately commit to ending the practice of gatekeeping homelessness services in the city. No caveats and no qualifications. No more internal reviews, it is time for action and meaningful change and improvement in the city’s homelessness services.”

The protest is taking place from 11am on Thursday, July 5.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman said the local authority “strongly refutes” Shelter’s accusations of “gatekeeping.”

A spokesman said: “Senior council officers have been seeking to meet with them over a number of months to discuss the issues they raised earlier in the year. Shelter has not responded to those requests for a meeting.

“Dialogue with senior officers would be a more constructive approach to addressing any concerns they have.

“There are significant pressures on our homelessness accommodation service at present and, as Shelter is aware, we are working with the Scottish Housing Regulator and our range of partners in the third and housing sectors to address them.

“The council is not gatekeeping resources, but has to manage on a daily basis the availability of emergency, temporary, and supported accommodation against needs.

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“We ensure all available accommodation is used to meet the needs of people who present as homeless.

“On the occasions when we are unable to meet immediate need, having exhausted all options we ensure that we provide help as soon as we possibly can.”

Councillor Mhairi Hunter, chair of Glasgow’s Health & Social Care Partnership, added: “I have personally offered twice in meetings with Shelter to be a direct point of contact for them if they have issues they want to raise. But they have not taken me up on the offer.

“I reiterate that offer today, so that we can have meaningful discussions about how to move forward together on this issue.”