Campaigners yesterday called on the Scottish Government to sanction the building of thousands more affordable homes as new figures revealed a sharp rise in the number of homeless people being put in temporary accommodation.
More than 9000 people were placed in temporary accommodation in 2006-07, an increase of 10% on the year before. Of those, the number of households with either a pregnant person or with children rose by 13%. Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, will today set out the Scottish Government's housing priorities in a statement at Holyrood.
Archie Stoddart, the director of Shelter Scotland, said the rise in the number of households living in temporary accommodation was "very disappointing" and called on the government to take action.
He said: "Local authorities across Scotland are working hard to house people, but they need help the Scottish Government must find the money in the forthcoming spending review to build 30,000 affordable rented homes."
Yesterday's figures also revealed that overall, there had been a 2% drop in the number of homelessness applications.
Stewart Maxwell, the Housing Minister, admitted that the rise in the use of temporary accommodation was "a concern".
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