More children in temporary homes in Edinburgh than all of Wales

There are more children in temporary accommodation in Edinburgh than in all of Wales, a charity has said.

Shelter Scotland pointed to figures from Edinburgh council showing there were more than 3,500 children in temporary accommodation at the end of 2024.

The most recent figures from Wales in November record 2,823 children in temporary accommodation.

Shelter Scotland says the situation north of the border is beginning to “spiral out of control”.

In March 2024 there was a record number of people living in temporary accommodation in Scotland, including more than 10,000 children who did not have a permanent home.

Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: “It is the harrowing reality that 3,600 children in Edinburgh are waking up homeless.

“The situation in Wales is also stark with the latest statistics revealing 2,823 children without a permanent home. However, this represents a slightly improving picture in Wales, while here in Scotland things continue to spiral out of control.

“The Scottish Government is always keen to highlight comparisons with the rest of the UK when it suits them – but the fact that significantly more children in our capital city are waking up homeless than in the entirety of Wales, which is in the grip of its own housing emergency, is scandalous.”

She continued: “This is the direct consequence of the Scottish Government and local authorities failing to prioritise housing and the desperate need for more social homes.

“The Scottish Government must do more to target resources where they are most needed if they’re to meet their own ambition of eradicating child poverty.”

Housing minister Paul McLennan accepted that “the number of children in temporary accommodation in Scotland is too high” but said the Scottish Government is “determined to reduce that”.

He said: “The key to that reduction is increasing housing supply.

“We already have a strong track record in delivering affordable homes, with more than 135,000 affordable homes delivered since 2007. That’s 47% more per head of population than England and 73% more than Wales.

“This year we have made additional funding of £40 million available to local authorities, with 80% of that targeted to areas with the most sustained temporary accommodation pressures. This takes investment in affordable housing in 2024-25 to almost £600 million.

“We plan to provide record funding of more than £15 billion to councils in 2025-26 to support the delivery of a range of services, including homelessness services – an increase of £1,008 million on 2024-25. And our proposed investment in affordable housing in 2025-26 is £768 million.”