DESPERATE homeless people in Glasgow are denied a place of their own because the council is failing to respond to offers from housing associations, it has been claimed.

The local authority's policymakers also passed up the chance to freeze waiting lists and give priority to hundreds of rough sleepers.

The allegations have been made by the head of the organisation that speaks for two thirds of the city's 69 housing providers.

Chairman of Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum of Housing Associations Peter Howden launched the stinging attack on the city council after head of social care Councillor Malcolm Cunning claimed he is hamstrung because associations don't offer enough properties to homeless people.

Speaking to the Evening Times last week, the Labour politician said "our access to long term accommodation has been restricted because of what the registered social landlords are making available to us."

A council spokesman has previously insisted "insufficient numbers of homes are being made available to help meet demand".

Peter Howden described the remarks as "extremely disappointing".

"For many years housing associations in the city have been trying to work with the council to sort out the system used to refer homeless applicants to local associations," he said.

"There is an agreed system for making referrals to housing associations but this is not being put into practice by the council. This results in frustrating and counter-productive situations."

Mr Howden revealed that offers to house homeless people often "get no response at all" or are "turned down as being of no use to the council", while some associations "get no referrals from the council".

He said some housing associations even offered to "suspend their waiting list for a significant period" so that all vacancies could be allocated to the homeless, but the council "didn't take this up".

Mr Howden insisted housing associations also "play a significant role in preventing homelessness" by directly housing people and liaising with charities who work with "vulnerable people".

He added: "Despite this unfortunate criticism from the council, our members remain committed to working with the council and other partners to create a system which gives homeless people improved access to housing across the city."

A council spokesman said committee reports show a "steady decline" in the number of permanent homes made available to homeless people.

"In Glasgow the council depends entirely on the housing associations as the source of permanent accommodation," he said. "During this time we have been involved in lengthy and ongoing discussions with the housing associations on how to best resolve what is undoubtedly a complex issue.

"The success of the Housing Options approach, which has helped to prevent significant numbers of people from becoming homeless in the first place, shows what can be achieved by the council and housing associations working in partnership.

"Following our recent strategic review of homelessness, we are developing a similar partnership with the housing associations on the issue of access to permanent housing.

"We welcome this continued collaboration with our housing association partners, which is essential to addressing the challenge of homelessness in Glasgow."