Homelessness in Scotland: update to 30 September 2024

Reasons for Homelessness and Prior Circumstances

Key Points

• Continued increases in the reporting of rough sleepings

Reasons

Most common reasons for homelessness remain constant

Chart 1: Five most common reasons for homelessness, April to September 2024

‘Other action by landlord resulting in the termination of the tenancy’ has experienced the most fluctuation over the last few years. This is likely connected to changes in legislation, as can also be seen in the proportions becoming homeless from a private rented tenacy.

Some applicants (76%) also provided additional reasons for homelessness. ‘Not to do with applicant household’ (51%) was the most common, followed by ‘mental health reasons’ (27%).

Previous property

Households becoming homeless from friends, relatives and partners account for nearly half of the total

Chart 2: Property type from which the household became homeless, April to September 2024

As noted above, the proportion of households becoming homeless from a ‘Private rented tenancy’ has experienced the most fluctuation over the last few years. This is as a result of legislation which was introduced to protect renters over the COVID-19 pandemic and through the cost of living crisis. Over these periods, there was a decline in the proportions becoming homeless from a private rented tenancy. The proportion of households homeless from a private rented tenancy has been consistently between 12% and 14% for the last eight quarters.

There has been an increase in the number and proportion of households becoming homeless from supported accommmodation. This experienced an increae of 52%, from 655 to 995 between 2023 and 2024. However, it should be noted that these both experienced decreases in the last two quarters.

Rough sleeping

Continued increases in the reporting of rough sleeping

Chart 3: Households experiencing rough sleeping prior to making a homelessness application, quarterly, January 2022 to September 2024

Over the six-month period 1 April to 30 September 2024, 6% of all households reported rough sleeping the night before and 9% in the previous three months. These are both increases compared to previous quarters.