Homelessness in Scotland: 2019 to 2020

Introduction

This statistics bulletin provides information on homelessness in Scotland in the period from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020, alongside historical data.

It provides statistical information on all stages of the homelessness process, including the size and characteristics of the homelessness population, the circumstances from which they became homeless, and the final outcomes of their application.

The publication also provides information on the use of temporary accommodation by local authorities during the homelessness application process, including the number of households in temporary accommodation, the duration of their stay. It also details the number of households in unsuitable temporary accommodation.

The statistics in this publications are based on administrative data collected by local authorities in the course of processing homelessness applications. A limitation of this approach is that data is not collected for any households that are homeless but do not engage with their local authority. For this reason the statistics in this publication do not necessarily cover the entire homeless population in Scotland. More detail on the data sources we use are included at the end of this publication.

Excel workbooks containing the tables and charts referenced in this publication are available to download at: https://www.gov.scot/collections/homelessness-statistics/