Jessica Husbands takes Shelter Scotland’s Homelessness: Far From Fixed campaign on a tour round rural Scotland.

Living in a big city like Edinburgh or Glasgow, it’s pretty impossible to be unaware of homelessness. Sadly, many of us are used to seeing people rough sleeping, and have noticed the rise in rough sleepers over the past couple of years. But in rural areas homelessness can be more hidden.

Between September 2016 and April 2017, we took our flagship campaign, Homelessness: Far From Fixed, to towns and cities across Scotland. One year on, a review of the government’s homelessness statistics showed us that little had changed and every 19 minutes a household in Scotland becomes homeless. So we took our campaign back to the streets.

Our campaign is demanding:

In September, we found strong public support for a national action on homelessness in Dundee (despite the pouring rain) and Dumfries. Then we ventured further north.

So this week the Campaigns and Public Affairs team hit the road. Our destination? Inverurie, Peterhead and Elgin. Our purpose? To raise awareness of homelessness and support for joined up national and local government action.