Everyone deserves a decent warm home

Homeless children spent almost one million days in temporary accommodation last year, housing campaigners have said. Shelter Scotland deputy director Alison Watson branded the figure "staggering" and insisted it is "simply not good enough".

The housing and homeless charity has published new datashowing Scotland's councils provided homeless households with an estimated 3.8 million days of temporary accommodation in 2014-15 There were an average of 10,302 households in Scotland in temporary accommodation - which can be in a bed and breakfast, hostel or local authority property - on any one night. The figures showed a quarter of the households were families with children, with an average of 4373 youngsters in temporary accommodation on any given night. The charity has now raised concerns over "whether the best use is being made of this expensive resource".

A report from Shelter Scotland said: "For thousands of households every year this provision provides an important safety net in times of crisis. However, the average time spent in so-called temporary accommodation is 23 weeks, with one in ten households spending over a year there This suggests that local authorities can struggle to move on households that have a right to settled, permanent accommodation in a timely manner."

The charity wants 12,000 affordable homes to be built each year over the next five years to drive down the need for temporary accommodation.