A FIVE-YEAR action plan to eradicate homelessness in Glasgow which affects more than 5000 people every year has been submitted to the Scottish Government.

If approved the strategy is expected to cost Glasgow City Council £18million. The local authority receives at least 5300 homeless applications where 4300 are deemed unintentional.

In 2017/18 of those who found themselves in this situation, 70 percent were single, 51 percent were male, and 76 percent were between 25-59-years-old.

Homelessness in Glasgow is a bigger problem than the Scottish average.

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Following release from prison nine percent of people find themselves without a home in Glasgow compared to the Scottish average of six percent. In 2018 the council helped 2285 people stuck in temporary accommodation.

The average length of stay in temporary accommodation in Scotland as a whole is 14 weeks compared to 41 weeks in Glasgow. Figures show that the homeless in the city can spend up-to 35 weeks in a hostel.

The five-year action plan costing £18m to combat the problem is expected to be discussed by the city administration each week.

Following the Scottish Government’s objective to eradicate homelessness throughout the country Glasgow City Council has been working on a proposal to make this happen.

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In October 2017 the Scottish Government established the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group.

In June 2018 it was agreed that every local authority in Scotland should develop a Rapid Housing Transition Plan setting out how a housing-led approach to end homelessness could be achieved.

Those working on the programme are trying to address the way they manage the demand for homeless services and access to settled housing, housing options and homelessness prevention and ending rough sleeping.

They will make sure homeless applications are handled more effectively and quickly to improve access to the 68 housing associations in the city.

If it isn’t possible to prevent rough sleeping or sofa surfing completely, Glasgow aims to provide a safe and secure household for every homeless person quickly. They hope this will mean people will spend less time in temporary accommodation.

To achieve these objectives the council will reduce time in temporary accommodation by 50 percent, eradicate the use of bed and breakfast by homeless people, reduce the supply of temporary furnished flats by 100 and hostel provision by 500.

Instead they want to develop 600 housing first tenancies for the city’s most complex and disadvantaged service users.

The proposals state: “Our plan is ambitious and reflects a strong commitment to the rapid rehousing philosophy. This commitment is reflected in the principles which underpin our plan, which are:

“That we work in partnership to prevent homelessness and where it does occur, we ensure that people access the right support at the right time;

“That secure housing enhances peoples’ life experiences. With the right support, most people are capable of sustaining settles housing in local communities.

“The time spent in temporary accommodation is kept to a minimum with access to settled housing our main priority

“People who have experienced homelessness and need to be involved in the service development.”

The council is expected to note the report and submit it to the operation performance and delivery scrutiny committee.

If successful the project is expected to transform the experiences of the homeless.