THE number of homeless people being put up in bed and breakfast accommodation has exploded in Dumfries and Galloway – leading to the council breaching government rules more than 300 times last year.
There were nearly 700 cases in 2023/24 where homeless people were sent to private B&Bs because of a severe shortage of available houses.
This is almost triple the previous year’s figures.
Stranraer and the Rhins Councillor Willie Scobie, who has repeatedly criticised the use of B&Bs for homeless provision, said: “This practice is frowned upon by Shelter (homeless charity).
“People are being moved into bed and breakfast accommodation with no cooking facilities of their own.
“The whole situation is horrendous. The council declared a housing emergency in the summer – but this goes beyond an emergency.
“We need to be doing a lot more for people. The Scottish Government must step in and help us.”
Dumfries and Galloway Council has prepared an annual monitoring report for the Scottish Government where housing chiefs have admitted 318 breaches of government rules on accommodation standards.
The Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan document states: “Due to the high level of demand for temporary accommodation within the region, the portfolio of accommodation is not sufficient to meet demand.
“To meet statutory duty, this has supplemented with the use of B&B accommodation. During 23/24 there were 1200 placements into temporary accommodation within the region with 669 of these being into bed and breakfast accommodation, resulting in 318 breaches of the unsuitable accommodation order.
“This is a marked increase from the previous year, which saw 226 placements into bed and breakfast accommodation and 47 breaches.
“The slow down within the housing market locally is resulting in the number of households in temporary accommodation increasing year on year.”
The number of households languishing in temporary accommodation also hit a six-year high last year. There were 243 cases as of March 31, 2024 – compared to 181 recorded in 2018/19, 2019/20, and 2020/21.
The average length of time households are in temporary accommodation is just over ten weeks.
Last year that figure stood at 71.4 days, a marked improvement on the previous five years. In 2022/23, the average stay in temporary accommodation was 83.7 days.
The council has entered into a number of short-term contracts with hotels in the region to deal with demand for accommodation and limit the costs for B&B accommodation.
Housing chiefs wrote: “Dumfries and Galloway Council is pro-active in moving households out of bed and breakfast into furnished accommodation as quickly as possible.
“It is worth noting that pre-pandemic Dumfries and Galloway Council did not use bed and breakfast accommodation and the unprecedented demands on temporary accommodation during 23/24 resulted in a £1.2m overspend in the service’s budget.
“This level of spend is not sustainable for the service or the council and is part of the current concerns around housing within the region which has resulted in a housing emergency being declared locally in June 2024.”
