Homelessness in Scotland: update to 30 September 2025

A note on interpreting the figures

It is not possible to make direct links within a reporting period for each stage of the homelessness process as households will be at a different stage at different times.

That is, not all applications made between 1 April and 30 September 2025 will have an assessment or temporary accommodation placement within that same six-month period. Similarly, some assessments made between 1 April and 30 September 2025 will relate to applications received prior to this; and some temporary placements in this period will relate to household applications and assessments prior to this also. Furthermore, there will be households who entered and exited temporary accommodation within the same reporting period, and therefore will not appear in the end of period snapshot of households in temporary accommodation.

To also note:

• it is possible for households to make an application and/or be assessed more than once in the same period (although this would be extremely unlikely in a six-month period)
• not all households assessed as homeless enter temporary accommodation

Where the publication refers to ‘in the six-month period’ this relates to the period 1 April to 30 September 2025, unless another year has been specified in the text.  Where years e.g. 2025 and 2024 are referred to in the publication (including charts), this relates to the respective six-month period 1 April to 30 September in each of the years.

The term ‘homeless households’ is used throughout the publication to denote households who have been assessed as (unintentionally or intentionally) homeless or threatened with homelessness.

Impact of households with leave to remain / refugee (including Ukrainian) eligibility

There has been an increase in the number of applications from households with leave to remain / refugee (including Ukrainian) eligibility over the last few years. Between 1 April and 30 September 2024 and 2025, there was an increase from 1,955 to 3,020 in the number of leave to remain / refugee households and an increase from 160 to 180 Ukrainian Displaced Households. Together, these groups accounted for 16% of homelessness applications nationally. Data relating to these households has been made available in a separate workbook available on our supporting documents page.

Impact of changes to local connection legislation

Of the 17,290 households assessed as homeless between April and September 2025, 15,105 (87%) had a local connection to the local authority where they applied, 770 (4%) had a local connection to another (Scottish) local authority only and 1,420 (8%) had no known connection to any local authority in Scotland.  

The proportion with only a connection to another (Scottish) local authority is slightly higher than the last few years (between 2% and 3%), although still a relatively small proportion overall.

Stock transfer authorities

For six local authorities – Argyll & Bute, Dumfries & Galloway, Eilean Siar, Glasgow, Inverclyde, and Scottish Borders – stock was transferred from local authority control to housing associations between 2003 and 2007. This should be borne in mind when interpreting figures at local authority level, particularly for outcomes by accommodation type.