a day ago
Charity takes direct action in bid to get Glasgow homeless people accommodation
Homeless people staged a protest by walking into a Glasgow council HQ to demand their right to emergency accommodation.
Colin McInnes, chair of Homeless Project Scotland, led the people into the offices in Merchant City after he said they had been refused the right to make a homeless application.
He said people are being told on a nightly basis that there is no accommodation and to stay overnight at the charity's shelter in Glassford Street.
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They are then told to go in the morning to the Connect Hub to make an application.
Mr McInnes said people are being left waiting for hours and no application is taken, leaving them to return to the shelter for a second night.
He took six people to the offices and explained the situation to the staff.
The staff took details of the people concerned, while the council's head of homeless services, Jim McBride, attended a lengthy meeting with Mr McInnes.
Mr McInnes said he was forced to take direct action to confront the failings in a system, leaving people with nowhere to turn.
He said all six of those who attended had no accommodation they were aware of when they entered the offices.
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The council, meanwhile, said it was disappointed by the action taken by the charity.
Mr McInnes said: 'Homeless Project Scotland took direct action to demand that applications were taken. We had an assurance that they are willing to work with us to fix this issue.'
He added: 'We have asked to be recognised in our own right and not to be forced to go somewhere else, where they are not being accommodated.
'It is about recognising the individual choice of support by someone and not being told they must go somewhere else.
'Some people have been waiting more than three days. We are not putting up with this anymore.'
He said a man spent all day at the hub, but no application was taken.
Another client, a woman, was forced to leave accommodation due to domestic abuse, but he said she was also refused and she returned to the shelter.
The council said all those who required accommodation have been found accommodation.
A spokesperson for Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership said: 'We remain in constant daily contact with HPS and had agreed with them a process for how we deal with any new homeless cases.
'We are disappointed HPS felt the need to conduct themselves in this way, bypassing the agreed escalation routes.
'Under no circumstances would the GHSCP deny anyone from making an application for assistance.
'We are presently reviewing the cases and responding accordingly.'
Following the meeting, McInnes said: "This morning we had 37 people on a list needing accommodation."
Hours after the meeting, Mr McBride said that it had been reduced to 19.
