In Homelessness applications for Orkney over a 6 month period from April to September in 2025 there was a 31% increase compared to the same period in 2024. Taken over a year, however, there was a 4% decrease from 2024.

The number of Homelessness applications made in Orkney from January to September 2025 are:

• January – March : 23
• April to June : 36
• July to September : 52

The figures are taken from the recently published Homelessness statistics for Scotland, up to 30 September 2025.

If a household is unintentionally homeless (or threatened with homelessness), Orkney Islands Council must offer settled accommodation. Until this is available, the local authority must offer temporary accommodation.

In Scotland as a whole there was a decrease of 2% in Homelessness applications (20,643) for April to September 2025.

There are many reasons a person or family may become homeless. The three most common reasons for homelessness remain fairly constant: asked to leave (26%), non-violent household dispute (18%) and violent household dispute (13%).

The vast majority (87%) of Homelessness applications are of people who are locals. Only 16% of applications are from people with leave to remain or who have refugee status. For example between 1 April and 30 September 2024 and 2025, there was an increase from 160 to 180 Ukrainian Displaced Households.

On Monday, 2 February, many organisations in Orkney came together for a day long conference, ‘The Big Ask: Acting Together to Prevent Homelessness in Orkney.’ Those attending heard from local and national speakers on finding solutions and responding to Homelessness. One of the most outstanding contributions was from Orkney’s Blide Trust who provide Care Experienced Young People with intensive housing support : Housing First For Youth (HF4Y).

Women’s Aid Orkney are also involved in a local Housing First Project with a dedicated support worker providing intensive support.

In closer detail for Orkney for the Year ending September the Homelessness applications according to eligibility are:

Eligibility	Year to end Sept 2024	Year to end Sept 2025	% Change
British, EEA, EU(pre04). Switzerland	130	135	+4%
A8 countries, EU(post 04)*	0	0	0
Others, leave to remain, refugee	0	0	0
Ukrainian(e.g. Homes for Ukraine)	0	0	0
Not eligible	0	0	0
All applications	140	135	-4%

Figures are rounded to the nearest 5. Some numbers in Orkney are very low, below 5, and so appear in the table as 0.

*A8 countries are Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia.

Click on this link for the OIC Homelessness advice page : I’m homeless or going to become homeless

In Scotland as a whole the number of people sleeping rough is the highest since 2004-5 and 2008-9.

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.

Temporary Accommodation

For cases that closed between April and September 2025, where there was at least one temporary accommodation placement, households spent an average of 237 days in temporary accommodation. This is the same as the same six-month period in 2024 and a little lower than 241 for October 2024 to March 2025. There were 3,120 refusals of temporary accommodation between April and September 2025.

There were notable decreases for Aberdeen City (from 270 to 155), Fife (from 235 to 50) and Renfrewshire (from 60 to 0) between 2024 and 2025. Relatively large numerical increases were noted in Dundee City (from 125 to 180) and West Lothian (from 180 to 230).

Click on this link for the full publication: Homelessness statistics, April to September 2025

Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 : The Housing (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament on 30 September 2025. It became The Housing (Scotland) Act on 6 November 2025. The Housing (Scotland) Bill will place a duty on certain public bodies to prevent people from losing their homes by asking about their housing situation and taking action.

Housing Secretary in the Scottish Government Màiri McAllan said:

” Whilst we already have some of the strongest homelessness rights of any country, we will now go even further to a create a gold-standard homelessness prevention system.

“Passing this groundbreaking legislation, coupled with the Housing Emergency Action Plan published earlier this month, shows just how serious we are about tackling Scotland’s housing crisis.

“Families across Scotland will have the confidence that their rented home will be free from damp and mould as we take forward work to implement ‘Awaab’s Law’. We will now work at pace to lay regulations to implement these protections from March.

“Scotland has already led the way in protecting tenants and providing strong rights when people are homeless and now the Housing Bill will revolutionise homelessness prevention and ensure rents are kept affordable.”

Fiona Grahame

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