SNP defends 'strong' rights making Glasgow magnet for homeless refugees and costing extra £40m
Glasgow City Council has received homeless applications from hundreds of refugees who sought asylum in English and Northern Irish cities.
SNP ministers have defended a policy that was intended to end homelessness as thousands of refugees from English cities use Scotland’s more lenient housing rules to obtain shelter - piling an extra £40 million of extra pressure on already-stretched council bosses.
Scotland’s largest local authority has called on the Labour government to take “responsibility” for the thousands of refugees who have claimed homelessness in Glasgow having travelled from other parts of the UK after Home Office support expired.
But Labour demanded the Scottish Government and SNP council leaders acknowledge the “disproportionate financial impact on Glasgow” the key devolved homelessness policy is having on the city.
Homelessness rules from the Scottish Government, drawn up by Nicola Sturgeon, alongside a decision from the previous Conservative UK government to streamline asylum applications have transformed Glasgow into a magnet for refugees from cities in England and Northern Ireland who have had their asylum claims approved but are forced into homelessness, costing council bosses more than £40m .
Then deputy first minister, Ms Sturgeon, ended the "priority need” policy in Scotland in 2012, which reserved accommodation entitlement for homeless people in certain categories such as families with children or women facing domestic abuse.
Now, anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own qualifies for support in Scotland, unlike other parts of the UK. Once asylum seekers are granted a right to remain, they have 56 days to “move on” from their Home Office accommodation, with many forced to declare themselves homeless.
Scale of Glasgow homelessness magnet for refugees revealed
Before the Conservative UK government streamlined asylum decisions in an attempt to cut the backlog in 2023, Glasgow City Council was spending an average of £1.6m per month on bed and breakfast accommodation for around 730 homeless households, with only one in nine of these households having recently been through the asylum process.
Currently, there are 4,386 households in temporary accommodation in Glasgow - 1,850 of them in bed and breakfast or hotel accommodation - including more than 3,600 children, 278 of whom are in B&Bs or hotels.
READ MORE: 'More people will sleep on the streets': Glasgow Council warned over unprecedented asylum pause
The accelerating rate of asylum decisions by the Home Office alongside Scotland’s more generous homelessness rules has meant that in 2023/24, Glasgow received 694 homelessness applications from those who were granted leave to remain status outwith the city - a figure that increased by 51.3 per cent in 2024/25 to 1,050 applications.
The latest figures show that 12.4 per cent of Glasgow’s annual homelessness demand is now from households who have been granted leave to remain refugee status from other parts of the UK but have chosen to come to Glasgow to make an application for homelessness assistance. It is thought many believe they could receive a more favourable outcome than south of the Border.
New refugees from English and Northern Irish cities are moving to Glasgow
Council chiefs have been flooded with applications from refugees previously accommodated by the Home Office in cities including Liverpool, Belfast, Birmingham, London and Manchester.
In total, since asylum decisions were streamlined in 2023, Glasgow has received 2,127 homelessness applications from households travelling from outwith the city after being granted leave to remain status - costing the city council more than £40m, without any support from the Home Office.
The leader of Glasgow City Council, the SNP’s Susan Aitken, told Scotland on Sunday any attempts to meet UK ministers to discuss the situation have been stonewalled by Labour politicians who have “declined or cancelled all meetings”.
Ms Aitken said: “The main pressure on the city has come as a result of the asylum decisions made by the Home Office. They have a responsibility to the people they grant asylum to – and a responsibility to the communities that they ask to support new refugees.
“In terms of the impact on our homelessness services, we have already had support from the Scottish Government by way of additional resources for housebuilding and home acquisitions – but we will continue to discuss with ministers what homeless services look like in the face of exceptional demand.
SNP urged to acknowledge policy impact
“To date, we have been unable to discuss our concerns with UK ministers as they have either declined or cancelled all meetings.”
But Glasgow Labour leader, Rashid Hussein, said the situation “needs to be handled sensitively and responsibly by all parties”, who must “acknowledge the pressures caused by international instability - as well as the additional responsibilities expected of Scottish councils by the Scottish Government, which has a disproportionate financial impact on Glasgow”.
He added: “Our focus needs to remain on the fact that there are people in our city in very difficult situations, living real lives, who need support.
“All levels of government, whether UK, Scottish or local, have a duty to work together to address this matter.
“We will therefore work constructively with all parties in Glasgow City Council to engage with both the Scottish and UK governments to address this issue.”
Council bosses in Glasgow have previously warned that the pressures put on the local authority by accommodating asylum seekers while they await a decision on their applications risked “damaging social cohesion”.
The council has threatened to pause being a dispersal city for asylum seekers, setting up a potential legal showdown with the Home Office.
In England, Epping Forest Council in Essex won court action against the Home Office over its use of hotels to accommodate those awaiting a decision on asylum applications.
Far-right protests
Across the UK, as of June, 32,059 asylum seekers were being accommodated in hotels. Despite only 1,573 of these people being put up in hotels in Scotland, far right protesters targeted a hotel in Falkirk last weekend, despite the local authority only accommodating 92 asylum seekers in hotels, as of June. More protests were expected to take place this weekend across the UK, including in Perth and Aberdeen.
It is understood that only one hotel in Glasgow is currently being used by Mears on behalf of the Home Office to accommodate those awaiting a decision on their asylum application.
Legal action in England is unlikely to be mirrored by councils north of the Border due to there being no distinction in planning law between a hotel and a hostel in Scotland .
While the Home Office foots the bill for accommodating asylum seekers awaiting a decision, including a £7 daily allowance for those who have escaped persecution and danger, it is the lack of support once refugees are granted the right to remain that is causing huge homelessness pressures in Glasgow.
A UK government spokeswoman said: “Despite inheriting huge pressures on the asylum system, we are working to make sure individuals have the support they need following an asylum decision to help local authorities better plan their assistance with homelessness.
“Although homelessness is a devolved matter, we are working right across the UK to give councils as much notice as possible of newly recognised refugees, have doubled the move on period to 56 days and have mobilised liaison officers to support asylum seekers in Glasgow City Council area.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Glasgow has been an asylum dispersal area since 2000 and is a welcoming, diverse and inclusive city. We recognise that the city has come under additional housing pressure due to significant levels of asylum decision making.
“Asylum and immigration are reserved and UK government decisions about management of the asylum system are creating significant pressures across the UK. We support the call from Glasgow City Council that the UK Government must provide adequate funding to support newly recognised refugees and communities.
“Everyone in Scotland is protected by our strong homelessness rights and has an equal right to temporary accommodation and support when they are experiencing homelessness. We are making £115.565 million available in Glasgow to support the delivery of more social and affordable homes, which includes more than £11.9 million for acquisitions and voids.”
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