Homelessness in Scotland: update to 30 September 2025
This statistics bulletin provides information on homelessness in Scotland in the six-month period from 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025, alongside historical data.
Part of
Reasons for Homelessness and Prior Circumstances
Key Points
- Continued increase in the reporting of rough sleeping
Reasons
The three most common reasons for homelessness remain fairly constant: asked to leave (26%), non-violent household dispute (18%) and violent household dispute (13%).
A new category “left asylum accommodation” was introduced in April 2025. This shows 2% of all applications cited this as a reason for homelessness.
Some applicants (76%) also provided additional reasons for homelessness. ‘Not to do with applicant household’ (54%) was the most common, followed by ‘mental health reasons’ (26%).
Previous property
Decrease in proportion of households becoming homeless from friends/partners and private rented tenancies; increase from supported accommodation
Chart 1: Five most common property types from which households became homeless, 2024 and 2025
Households becoming homeless from a ‘private rented tenancy’ has experienced the most fluctuation over the last few years as a result of legislation which was introduced to protect renters over the COVID-19 pandemic and through the cost of living crisis. However, the proportion of households homeless from a private rented tenancy has been consistently between 11% and 14% for the last eleven quarters.
The increase in households from supported accommodation will be associated with the rise in applications from households granted refugee / leave to remain status. Additionally, the new category “asylum accommodation” was introduced in April 2025 and shows 2% of homeless households stating this is where they become homeless from.
Rough sleeping
Continued increases in the reporting of rough sleeping
Chart 2: Households experiencing rough sleeping prior to making a homelessness application, quarterly, January 2023 to September 2025
Over the six-month period 1 April to 30 September 2025, 7% of all households reported rough sleeping the night before and 10% in the previous three months. These are both increases compared to previous years, and the highest proportions since 2004-05 and 2008-09, respectively.