Temporary Accommodation

Key Points

• Increased use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation
• Increase in time spent in temporary accommodation

Sources of temporary accommodation data

Since 2002, local authorities have provided aggregate snapshot information relating to households in temporary accommodation. While this allows trends to be explored over time, understanding around individual placements and how these relate to assessed households is not possible from the snapshot data. Therefore, since 1 April 2016 placement level information on households in temporary accommodation has been provided to enable a more rounded picture of the use of temporary accommodation.

The snapshot data shows 16,634 households in temporary accommodation as at 30 September 2024. The placement level returns show that there were 17,869 temporary accommodation placements open at 30 September 2024, 1,235 (7%) higher than the snapshot returns. Differences may be explained by the returns including different types of temporary accommodation and the placement level returns experiencing a lag in cases being closed.

Both of these figures show households in temporary accommodation at a point in time and, as such, will include those who have recently entered temporary accommodation as well as those who have been in temporary accommodation for a longer period of time (including prior to the reporting period).

Reporting of temporary accommodation

Between April and September 2024, 24,759 temporary accommodation placements were entered and 24,303 were exited. This is a net difference of 456. This is not quite the same as the increase of 304 households in temporary accommodation between 31 March and 30 September 2024 from the HL2 data, however, this is likely due to the differences in the collections outlined above. Total number of placements is a useful measure for showing the overall scale of temporary accommodation usage. However, placement level analysis alone provides limited insight due to the often very transient nature of the use of temporary accommodation. It is not unusual for households to enter and exit multiple placements, with or without gaps in between.

When considering certain aspects of temporary accommodation such as number of placements, average time spent in temporary accommodation etc., the true extent of this can only be fully understood once a household’s homelessness application has been closed.

How many households entered temporary accommodation for the first time? How many exited for the last time?

Between April and September 2024, 11,745 households entered a first (ever) temporary accommodation placement. This may include households who made a homelessness application prior to this. Over the same period, 9,353 households exited their last (ever) temporary accommodation placement. A household is considered to have ‘exited’ temporary accommodation in a reporting period only if their homelessness case has closed and their last associated temporary accommodation placement is within that period.

These figures give a net difference of 2,392 (20%) more households entering temporary accommodation for the first time than exiting for the last time. This relates to the increase in the number of households in temporary accommodation which can be seen in the snapshot figure, although the numbers will not match given the differences outlined above.

Edinburgh had the largest numerical difference with 533 more households entering than exiting. The next largest was Glasgow with a net difference of 450 more households entering than exiting.

What types of temporary accommodation are used?

The most commonly used temporary accommodation was local authority accommodation

Chart 6: Types of temporary accommodation used, as at 30 September 2024

The use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation experienced the largest increase from 1,905 households in September 2023 to 2,680 in September 2024 (41%). Local authority hostel has also seen a large proportionate increase of 34% (from 633 to 846).

The rise in the use of Bed & Breakfast accommodation is related to the increase in general demand for temporary accommodation.

The ‘Other’ category includes ‘newer’ types of temporary accommodation such as rapid access accommodation, community housing and shared tenancies, which can be deemed suitable.

Housing association and Other temporary accommodation remain more commonly used for households with children compared to all households. Hostel and Bed & Breakfast accommodation are used much less for households with children. However, there has been a notable increase over the last year in the number of children in Bed & Breakfast accommodation (from 130 to 420) between 2023 and 2024.

How long do households spend in temporary accommodation?

For cases that closed between April and September 2024, where there was at least one temporary accommodation placement, households spent an average of 234 days in temporary accommodation. This compares to 222 for the same six month period in 2023 and 233 for October 2023 to March 2024.

How often do applicants refuse temporary accommodation?

A household can choose to refuse an offer of temporary accommodation made by the local authority. There were 3,370 refusals of temporary accommodation between April and September 2024. This is 310 (8%) less than the same period for 2023. 

How often do local authorities fail to provide temporary accommodation?

A local authority is required to indicate when they do not offer any temporary accommodation to a household and are therefore acting unlawfully.

Between April and September 2024, there were 7,545 instances of households not being offered temporary accommodation. This is considerably higher than the 2,000 in 2023. The vast majority (6,320 out of 7,545) of these were in Glasgow, where prior to July 2023 they previously reported none. Glasgow have noted that this is due to the increased demand on homelessness services. Edinburgh reported 1,015 instances over the six month period.

An additional seven local authorities reported at least one instance of not offering accommodation over the six month period in 2024. These were Aberdeen City, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Fife, Highland, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire.

How often do local authorities breach unsuitable accommodation legislation?

Between April and September 2024 there were 4,085 reported breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order (UAO) across nineteen local authorities. This compares to 3,665 in the same six month period in 2023.

Glasgow accounted for 1,650 of the breaches, and Edinburgh 945. West Lothian had a reduction in the number of breaches from 300 to 185 between 2023 and 2024.

 Glasgow had the largest number of breaches (2,990), followed by Edinburgh (1,525), Aberdeen city (540) and West Lothian (520). There were notable increases for Dumfries & Galloway (from 45 to 315) and Dundee City (from 45 to 230).