Glasgow west end buildings to be used for homeless accommodation

A property on Wilton Street is set to be leased by Glasgow City Council
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


Two buildings in the city’s west end will be used to help ease the housing emergency by providing temporary accommodation to homeless people.

Councillors have backed plans to lease properties on Queen Margaret Drive and Wilton Street, as homelessness continues to rise.

Both deals are expected to help the council reduce its reliance on unsuitable hotels and B&Bs. More than 200 threats of judicial review are received per month over the use of unsuitable accommodation or failures to provide temporary homes.

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In November last year — one year after the housing emergency was declared — accommodation wasn’t provided to homeless applicants on 1,086 occasions. There were 1,496 households in B&Bs at that point.

Glasgow City Council is set to renew a lease for accommodation at Queen Margaret Drive, which can house 34 people, for another 10 years. It will also take on a lease for a Wilton Street townhouse which can support 13 people.

Council officials reported the use of “stop gap” B&Bs and hotels breaches the unsuitable accommodation order and “more appropriate” accommodation needs to be found for “vulnerable households”.

Rent payments to Danobe Securities Ltd for the Queen Margaret Drive property will rise from just under £148,000 per year to £165,000, excluding VAT, under the new deal.

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At Wilton Street, the 10-year agreement will see the council pay £65,000 per year, excluding VAT, to lease the building, which is owned by Queens Cross Housing Association.

The council has leased the Queen Margaret Drive tenement building since 1993, when it was initially sub-let to Glasgow Women’s Aid. The current lease ends next month.

It can accommodate 34 people in single occupancy, with a communal kitchen and bathroom facilities. The Wilton Street house has a mix of rooms with ensuites and others with shared bathrooms as well as a communal kitchen.

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In a report to councillors, officials added Glasgow has faced increased demand for homelessness services since the UK Government sped up the asylum decision making process in June 2023 to reduce a backlog.

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They stated the city receives “the largest number of homelessness applications in Scotland, disproportionate to the size of its population” — with 17.2% of applications against 11.4% of Scotland’s population.

The report also stated the number of households in B&Bs was 742 in June 2023 compared to 1,473 at present.

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