Data on Homelessness Presentations by Refugees Across Scotland: FOI release

Information requested

1. The total number of homelessness applications made by people with refugee status or leave to remain in Scotland in the last three years.

2. Breakdown by local authority (especially Glasgow and Edinburgh).

3. Percentage of total homelessness applications this group presents.

Response

The Scottish Government collects data regarding eligibility for homelessness support. This includes a category for those who are not British, EU or Swiss citizens, but are lawfully present in the UK and eligible for support. This will include, although not exclusively, those with refugee/leave to remain status. We cannot separately identify applications made by people with refugee/leave to remain status. There is a separate category for Ukrainian nationals lawfully present in the UK through an appropriate scheme.

Most of the information you have requested is available from the Scottish Government Homelessness Statistics webpages Homelessness: statistics - gov.scot.

The total number of homelessness applications broken down by eligibility criteria and local authority can be found in:

Table 2 of the Main Annual tables_Homelessness in Scotland 2024-25. The latest full annual figure is for 2024-25.

Table 2 of the Biannual Tables - Homelessness in Scotland: update to 30 September 2025. This provides the most recent figures, up to 30 September 2025.

Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

The percentage of applications by eligibility can be calculated based on published data. The table below shows the breakdown of homelessness applications by eligibility based on the most recent figures (update to 30 September 2025):

April to September 2025	Homelessness applications	% of total
All applications	20,645	100%
British citizens / EEA countries, pre EU expansion in 2004, or Switzerland	16,780	81%
Nationals of A8 countries or other countries to have joined the EU since 2004	415	2%
Not nationals of the above countries, but are lawfully present in the UK (e.g. granted refugee status or leave to remain) and meet eligibility criteria	3,020	15%
Ukrainian nationals, lawfully present in the UK through the Ukraine Family Scheme or Homes for Ukraine visa scheme	180	1%
Not eligible for assistance	250	1%

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.