Homeless could suffer if dormitory night shelters return, expert warns

Those at risk of homelessness in Scotland could suffer harm if dormitory-style night shelters return, an expert has warned.

Research from a Heriot-Watt University academic has emphasised Scotland’s success in ending the use of “shared air” shelters between 2020 and 2024.

Professor Beth Watts-Cobbe, lead author of the paper in the International Journal on Homelessness, said reducing the use of shelters is key to helping the homeless population.

These shelters can lead to worse health outcomes and users being exposed to violence and drug harm, her research paper says.

However, it cautions that rising demand and gaps in provision could pose a risk to Scotland’s almost totally shelter-free approach.

Following the onset of the pandemic, the use of dormitory-style homeless shelters was eliminated in Scotland over eight months as users were moved to single-room accommodation and other hubs.

Prof Watts-Cobbe told the Press Association: “We just know that shelters are not always better than rough sleeping and that really underlines the point that we have to secure alternative routes off the street.”

She said some community groups have attempted to revive the use of shelters, saying these efforts were misdirected.

“Some of those efforts, they come from really well-intentioned people trying to fill gaps in the statutory system and meet a demand that they see,” she said.

“But I think the essential thing is resisting that temptation and recognising the standard that we need to provide.”

Professor Watts-Cobbe said Scotland’s example showed it is possible to eradicate the use of shelters.

She said: “This was possible because of policy foundations built over decades combined with rapid action during the pandemic to relocate shelter residents to single-room accommodation.

“However, this progress is now under serious threat from rising demand, inadequate provision for people with no recourse to public funds and community pressure to reopen dormitory-style shelters.

“The evidence is clear that shelters perpetuate harms among exceptionally disadvantaged people and fail to provide pathways to sustainable housing.”

Scotland’s shelter-free approach needs a sustained commitment in order to be maintained, she said.

Maggie Brunjes, chief executive of Homeless Network Scotland, said: “For too long, the public image of homelessness has been stuck in an outdated stereotype of night shelters – basic, dormitory-style spaces congregating people in crisis, often accepted as inevitable and ‘good enough’ for those at the hardest edges of society.

“This critical new research highlights Scotland’s remarkable achievement in maintaining a shelter-free response from 2020 to 2024, decisively shifting to self-contained temporary accommodation and settled housing in the community.

“This hard-won progress – driven by leadership from Glasgow and Edinburgh local authorities, adaptive charities that modernised their services and strong Scottish Government policy – now risks reversal amid surging demand and the national housing emergency.”

Homeless Project Scotland runs the country’s only active night shelter, which is in central Glasgow and launched in January 2024.

The charity’s chief executive Colin McInnes said he strongly disagreed that shelters should be avoided altogether.

He told the Press Association: “A key issue with much of this debate is that it is being led almost entirely from an academic and policy perspective, rather than from lived experience or frontline reality.

“It is a fair and necessary question to ask whether those arguing for the complete avoidance of shelters have ever relied on one themselves, worked overnight in one, or stood on the street at 2am telling people there is nowhere safe for them to go.”

He said that rough sleeping is often the only alternative for those who can’t find single-room accommodation, adding: “We do not dispute that historic dormitory-style provision carried risks, nor do we claim shelters are a long-term solution.

“However, the suggestion that avoiding shelters is inherently safer than providing emergency cover ignores the real-world consequences of inaction.”

McInnes continued: “To suggest that withdrawing emergency shelter provision minimises harm is not supported by what we see on the ground.”

Housing secretary Mairi McAllan said: “Night shelters do not provide a safe or dignified way for people at risk of rough sleeping to receive support and we remain absolutely committed to phasing out the use of this type of accommodation in Scotland.

“Since 2020, we have delivered over £1.6m of funding to support the operation of rapid rehousing welcome centres as an alternative to night shelter provision in both Edinburgh and Glasgow – support that people with no recourse to public funds can access.

“These centres provide people at risk of rough sleeping with self-contained accommodation and wrap-around third sector support in a dignified and person-centred way.

“Scottish ministers have repeatedly raised the issues which impact people with no recourse to public funds in Scotland with the UK Government, particularly the Home Office.”