Homelessness in Scotland: 2025-26
This statistics bulletin provides information on homelessness in Scotland in the period from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, alongside historical data.
Part of
The extent of homelessness in Scotland
Key points in 2025-26
- Slight increase in the number of homelessness applications and households assessed as homeless
- Larger increases for open cases and households and children in temporary accommodation
- Decrease in applications from British, EU, EEA or Swiss citizens and those not eligible: increase for other eligibilities, which includes refugees and those with leave to remain status
- Small decrease in the number of adults associated with homeless households, with a more notable decrease in the number of children
Applications, assessments, and households in temporary accommodation
Table 1: Slight annual increase in households assessed as homeless with larger increases for open cases and households in temporary accommodation
Homelessness applications, assessments and temporary accommodation 2024-25 and 2025-26
| Measure | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Change 2024-25 to 2025-26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | Percent | |||
| Applications | 41,246 | 41,443 | 197 | 0% |
| Assessed as homeless | 34,656 | 35,002 | 346 | 1% |
| Houeholds in temporary accommodation at 31 March | 17,240 | 19,004 | 1,764 | 10% |
| Open homelessness applications at 31 March | 31,873 | 34,964 | 3,091 | 10% |
Nationally, there were decreases in applications from British, EU, EEA or Swiss citizens and those who are not eligible for assistance (from 36,235 to 34,450, 5%, combined). However, there were increases from those who are not nationals of one of the above countries, but are lawfully present in the UK (e.g. because they have been granted refugee status or leave to remain) and meet the criteria for eligibility as well as Ukrainian nationals lawfully present through an appropriate scheme (from 5,010 to 6,990, 40%, combined).
The number of households assessed as homeless was the highest since 2011-12, with the number of households in temporary accommodation and number of live applications both reaching the highest in the time series (back to 2002 and 2003, respectively).
Number of households vs number of people
The 35,002 homeless households in 2025-26 contained a total of 53,842 people, comprising 39,420 adults and 14,422 children. The number of adults experienced only a small numerical decrease (74, less than 0.5%) compared to the previous year, while the number of children decreased by 1,553 (10%).
There were 10,715 children in temporary accommodation as at 31 March 2026. This is 5% higher than March 2025, and the highest in the time series. There was also an annual increase of 1% for the number of households with children or pregnant women in temporary accommodation as at 31 March, compared to a 10% increase in households overall. [To note, data is not collected on the number of adults in temporary accommodation placements.]
Intentionality
In 2025-26, 34,017 (97% of all homeless households) were assessed as unintentionally homeless, and 985 assessed as intentionally homeless.
This is the highest number of households assessed as intentionally homeless since legislation changed in November 2019, giving local authorities the power to assess for intentionality, rather than it being a legal duty to do so.
Longer term trends
Chart 1: Longer term trends in homelessness in Scotland are impacted by previous legislation, policy, and practice, with a shorter-term impact due to COVID-19
Homelessness applications, assessments, open applications, and households in temporary accommodation: 2002-03 to 2025-26
In 2001, Scottish homelessness legislation extended councils’ duties to non-priority need homeless households. Before 2002, the majority of homeless households in priority need had children. Following the 2001 extension duty there was a notable increase in the number of single people applying for homelessness assistance.
These single people were also eligible for temporary accommodation. This can, at least in part, explain the increase from 2002-03 in use of temporary accommodation. The priority need test was abolished on 31 December 2012.
The sharper decrease shown from 2009-10 in applications and households assessed as homeless is likely due to the impact of the introduction of Housing Options services in Scottish local authorities, with a focus on prevention.
From 2016-17, applications and assessments were increasing year on year until 2020-21, when the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decreases due to stay at home guidance and emergency legislation to protect renters. The lifting of these resulted in a return to increasing trends. The number of open applications and households in temporary accommodation continued to rise throughout the pandemic and are now at an all time high.
How does homelessness vary across Scotland?
Applications
Thirteen local authorities experienced an increase in applications and nineteen experienced a decrease in the number of applications compared to last year.
The largest numerical increases were in Edinburgh (536, 14%) and Aberdeen City (379, 22%). The largest numerical decreases was in Glasgow (450, 5%).
It should be noted that applications from households with eligibility categories containing those with leave to remain / refugee status and Ukrainian nationals tend to be concentrated in the cities. Over half (51%) of these were in Glasgow, accounting for 44% of all applications in Glasgow (3,550 out of 8,030). Nearly a quarter (24%) were in Edinburgh, accounting for 37% (1,645 out of 4,435) of their applications. Aberdeen City has also seen an increase (from 260 to 610) in applications in these eligibilities, with these now accounting for 29% of all their applications.
Comparing homelessness figures with the total number of households for each local authority (i.e. rates) provides a useful insight as to how homelessness varies across Scotland.
Chart 2: 136 households per 10,000 in Scotland assessed as homeless
Households assessed as homeless compared to all households, by local authority: 2025-26
Open homelessness applications
It is not always the case that the same patterns are observed across all local authorities for new and open applications. There are instances where there has been an increase in open applications, despite a decrease in the number of new applications. For example, Glasgow experienced a 5% decrease in applications, but a 7% increase in open applications. This can be explained by the fact that the number of new cases is greater than the number of closed cases, and hence leads to an overall increase in open cases.
Conversely, there are cases where open case have decreased despite an increase in applications (Falkirk had a 5% increase in applications but an 18% decrease in open cases). This is due to less new cases than cases closed.
Edinburgh has the highest number of open cases at 9,604, accounting for 27% of all open cases compared to only 11% of all new applications. Glasgow has the next highest number of open cases at 7,144, accounting for 20% of the national total (similar to their 19% share of applications nationally).
Temporary accommodation
Similarly, it is not necessarily the case that the local authorities with the highest rates of homeless households have the highest rates for use of temporary accommodation, and vice versa. This implies some local authorities have a disproportionately high use of temporary accommodation, while others have a disproportionately low use.
Chart 3: 74 households per 10,000 in Scotland in temporary accommodation
Households in temporary accommodation compared to all households, by local authority: as at 31 March 2026