CRISIS POINT

All UK roads lead to Glasgow in refugee housing emergency 7500 from outside city in homeless queue scramble

- BY PAUL HUTCHEON

GLASGOW is at “crisis point” after the council received more than 7500 homeless applications from outside the city amid a refugee housing crisis.

And three out of four of these outside requests for a home came from people in other parts of the UK, including refugees and British-born citizens from south of the Border.

SNP council leader Susan Aitken has now urged both Scottish and UK governments to intervene.

Glasgow council is facing a £66million black hole after a surge in demand for temporary accommodation, driven by asylum seekers and refugees given leave to stay in the UK.

Aitken said: “Home Office policy is driving a homelessness crisis among refugees in cities and towns across Britain, not just in Glasgow.

“However, Scotland's more robust approach to supporting homeless people means something that has led to a spike in rough sleeping in cities down south translates into unsustainable financial pressure on frontline services in Glasgow. Both are unacceptable and require urgent intervention.”

She went on: “In the short term, the UK Government has to revisit policies and procedures that make new refugees homeless almost immediately after receiving leave to remain - and direct resources towards the cities and towns that have been dealing with the consequences.