Safe places, support and hope appeal

Background – why are we declaring a people emergency

• The Scottish Government declared a housing emergency in May 2024 (BBC article)
• Latest Scottish Government homelessness statistics (Released 24th September 2024) 
  • There were 40,685 homelessness applications. An increase of 1,377 (4%) compared to 2022-23, and the highest since 2011-12.
  • There were 33,619 households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness. An increase of 1,088 (3%) compared to 2022-23, and the highest since 2011-12.
  • There were 31,870 live applications as at 31 March 2024. This compares to 29,408 at March 2023, and is the highest in the time series.
  • There were 16,330 households in temporary accommodation at 31 March 2024. This is 9% higher than 15,039 at 31 March 2023, and the highest in the time series.
• Simon Community Scotland (SCS) figures show 60+ people currently rough sleeping  in Edinburgh each night / 30+ people currently rough sleeping in Glasgow each night
• The charity is regularly providing over 1,000 requests for support at their Edinburgh and Glasgow hubs each week 
• SCS urgently needs to raise £200,000 to help provide safe places, support and hope to people experiencing homelessness

Following the release of the latest Scottish homeless figures, Scotland’s largest specialist provider of homeless response services, Simon Community Scotland (SCS), have taken the unprecedented step of declaring a people emergency and launching their Safe Places, Support and Hope appeal.

Lorraine McGrath, CEO, said;  “Behind the housing system emergency is a growing people emergency, being felt most acutely by those who find themselves stuck in an ever more limited system of homelessness. 

There are fewer and fewer safe places for people to go. Our streets are not safe;  it destroys your mental health and wellbeing, you can find yourself  existing in a bed and breakfast or temporary accommodation that will never be  home, too often now for months and years. 

At Simon Community Scotland, we are doing all we can through our many partnerships and connections, our street teams, our hubs and our accommodation services to keep people as safe as possible. We’re trying to keep their spirits up and offer hope and people are displaying tremendous resilience. We have a people emergency and at a scale we have not seen before and it’s growing and person by person we have to find ways to respond..” 

Lorraine continued; “We are regularly supporting over 1,000 people a week though our Edinburgh and Glasgow Hubs. We’re also supporting around 100 people every day and night on the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow.”

Claire Longmuir, Head of Policy and Harm Reduction, said: “Homelessness is not just people who are rough sleeping on our city streets. That is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the challenges ahead of us in Scotland. If we don’t start taking a humanitarian approach to what is a people emergency, that we are facing on the back of the cost of living crisis and housing emergency, then I really fear for the mental health, wellbeing and lives of thousands of people.”  

Simon Community’s Safe Places, Support and Hope appeal is aiming to raise £200,000 this year with funds directed straight to people being supported through their Hubs, Street Teams, Outreach and Accommodation Services, SCS Homes and Streetreads Library.

Lorraine McGrath, Chief Executive at Simon Community Scotland, said: “We urgently need donations to help us offer safe places, support and hope to people experiencing homelessness. Every experience of homelessness is an absolute emergency for that person, the impact and harm can be lifelong. Please help us reduce that impact and to respond at a people level to everyone who connects with us to find their own solution.”

“Please, please donate if you can. And please consider if your workplace, club or school can do something to help.

“Scotland’s housing emergency is a problem which won’t be solved overnight. In the short term, right here, right now we need to see and respond to the very real people emergency we have, with each and every person we connect with.”

Simon Community Scotland is set to provide safe places and support to over 10,000 people experiencing homelessness through 2024, an increase of 25% from 2022. 

To find out more about Simon Community Scotland, please visit www.simonscotland.org 

ENDS

For further information and interview requests, please contact Murray Easton via murray.easton@simonscotland.org or call 07729 390 558

About Simon Community Scotland

For more information about our Safe Places, Support and Hope Appeal visit www.justgiving.com/campaign/safeplacessupporthope

Website https://www.simonscotland.org/ 

Twitter @SimonCommScot 

Instagram @SimonCommScot 

Facebook SimonCommScot

Simon Community Scotland stories and quotes

“I’m living in a cheap hotel with no cooking facilities and nowhere to wash my clothes. We See You at Simon Community Scotland’s Hub is a safe place for me to connect and get help. A cuppa, a sandwich, a blether. I have nothing else, no-one else. Here it feels like I have hope.” S, female, 30’s

“When the door opens and someone says ‘How are you? Come on in.’ It’s like a huge relief. Like I can breath again.” Anonymous, visits our Connect Hub for women experiencing homelessness

“The rain was like nothing we’d seen before/ My waterproofs were no longer waterproof. We kept going. People were sleeping out on the streets, in doorways, trying to find shelter. We had to do whatever we could to help.” Hannah, Edinburgh Street Team

“There is another world out there, away from the city, away from temptations, away from my sh**y hotel room. It feels safe. I feel safe. I feel human.” Anonymous, someone from our We See You group that we took to Loch Lomond on a group trip