WIREDGOV

An Accredited Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

A bi-annual update on Homelessness Statistics covering 2024-25 has been released today.  

Findings for that period show:

• A decrease in homelessness applications for the first time in four years. There was a total of 40,688 applications, 366 (1%) less than 2023-24.
• There were 34,067 households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness. An increase of 112 (less than 0.5%) compared to 2023-24, and the highest since 2011-12.
• There were 31,695 live applications as at 31 March 2025. Although this is 1% higher than March 2024, it is 2% lower than the 32,272 at 30 September 2024.
• The number of households in temporary accommodation increased by 6% compared to March 2024, reaching the highest in the series at 17,240 at 31 March 2025. This is 4% higher than at 30 September 2024.
• The number of children in temporary accommodation also experienced an annual increase (1%) between March 2024 and 2025 reaching 10,180. However, this was a 2% decrease compared to 10,360 in September 2024.
• The number of households reporting rough sleeping the night before application has increased from 1,932 to 2,465 and in the three months prior from 3,058 to 3,579 between 2023-24 and 2024-25.
• The average time spent in temporary accommodation for cases that closed in 2024-25 was 238 days. This is ten days higher than 2023-24 and compares to 305 days, on average, for cases that are still open.
• 82% of households assessed as unintentionally homeless secured settled accommodation in 2024-25, similar to 83% in 2023-24.
• The time it takes to close a homelessness case following assessment, and where the household has been assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness, has increased slightly from 278 to 280 days between 2023-24 and 2024-25.

Background

The full statistical publication is available on our website.

The Homelessness in Scotland: 2024-25 publication presents information on local authority homelessness applications, assessments and outcomes in the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, and places it in the context of longer-term trends. It also provides data on the number of households in temporary accommodation throughout the same period.

Breakdowns by gender, age and ethnicity are provided as part of this release. The statistical report contains data and infographics of main findings with further detail available via equalities tables available on our website.

Please note that due to updates to East Dunbartonshire management information systems, there are between 30 and 95 cases missing for applications, assessments and closed cases within East Dunbartonshire. Nationally, it is estimated this has resulted in undercounts between 0.1 and 0.3 percentage points. There has been a subsequent increase in the number of open cases, estimated at 0.2% nationally. Headline temporary accommodation figures relating to number of households and children in temporary accommodation have been confirmed as correct.

The 30 September 2024 figure for live applications is likely to be revised slightly with the publication of the quarterly time series in February 2026 due to quarterly updates to the data.

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland is on the Scottish Government website.