There has been a slight decrease in the number of people applying to Orkney Islands Council as ‘homeless’. From April to September 2024 there were 65 applications compared to 76 for the same period in 2023.

	Children Living in Temporary Housing in Orkney
31 March 2022	20
30 June 2022	25
30 September 2022	35
31 December 2022	40
31 March 2023	40
30 June 2023	35
30 September 2023	35
31 December 2023	35
31 March 2024	45
30 June 2024	50
40 September 2024	50

The 50 households in Orkney either assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness all had local connections.

In Scotland there were 16,634 households and 10,360 children in temporary accommodation at 30 September 2024. These are the highest in the time series since 2002 and increases of 6% and 5%, respectively, compared to 15,620 households and 9,855 children at 30 September 2023. Homelessness Statistics

The reasons for becoming homeless have remained similar over the years with ‘being asked to leave’ at 26%; household dispute/breakdown of relationship 19%; violent/abusive household dispute 13%; other reasons 10%; and other action by landlord terminating tenancy 8%.

Legislation which was introduced into Scotland during Covid giving some additional protection to those in private rented accommodation has resulted in declining numbers of those becoming homeless.

In Scotland as a whole the number of people making applications to their local authority as homeless has increased to 20,823 in 2024; from 20,528 in 2023.

More than three-fifth of main applicants of homeless households are
aged between 25 and 49 years old

The number of people in Scotland of those applying for housing and who have had to sleep rough in the three months prior to their claim has also increased to 1,785 in 2024; from 1,431.

The above Homelessness Statistics covering 1 April to 30 September 2024 are the latest to be published.

Fiona Grahame