Homeless women tell us about the 'hell' of Scotland's housing crisis | ITV News

Danielle Quigley and her six children are homeless. "I'm on a mattress on the floor. It's the only solution I could come to. What else can you do?" she told ITV News. "It's just such a stress. You're sitting here at the mercy of the local authority." The family has been forced to live in emergency accommodation in Lanark, provided by South Lanarkshire Council, after her landlord of 14 years decided to sell the home they were renting. But this temporary home is overcrowded, leaving Danielle with no other option but to sleep on a mattress on the floor so she can give her kids a bed. And it's anything but temporary. Danielle has been told she can expect to live here for some time, as there are so few family-sized homes available. “Looking at the market, and what the council has said, the chances of us getting a four-bedroom house are slim to none.” The family is among a rising number who are finding themselves homeless in Scotland, according to new figures. Over the course of the 2021 to 2026 Parliament, rough sleeping has more than doubled, overall homelessness has gone up nearly 20%, and the number of children in temporary accommodation has gone up 26% - the highest level since records began. The number of people assessed as homeless and seeking support has fallen, which the government says is encouraging, but campaigners say not enough is being done to solve the worsening crisis. The Scottish Government has published its latest homelessness figures and, with just 3 months to the next Scottish Parliament elections, it isn't good reading for the SNP: A record number of 10,480 children are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. The number of households in temporary accommodation also reached a new record high of 18,092, a 9% increase over the previous year. The number of live homeless applications is also the highest on record, at 33,006. These numbers show that Scotland is in the grips of a housing emergency, with the number of children trapped in emergency accommodation also on the rise. One of the key issues for campaigners is that more than £100 million pounds was spent on homeless hotels in Scotland in 2024/2025, another figure that has been on the rise. • Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2lOHmNj • Get breaking news and more stories at http://www.itv.com/news Follow ITV News on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@itvnews?lang=en Follow ITV News on Instagram:   / itvnews   Follow ITV News on Facebook:   / itvnews   Follow ITV News on X:   / itvnews