A parliamentary question submitted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed that on 25th December 2023, there were 30,557 live homelessness applications, covering 35,361 adults and 17,002 children - this is an increase of more than 2,000 applications since 2022.

The local authority with the highest number of homelessness applications was Edinburgh with 6,815 live applications covering 8,276 adults and 4,099 children. Other local authorities recording the highest number of homeless individuals were Glasgow (10,908), South Lanarkshire (3,182), Fife (2,722) and West Lothian (2,427).

It comes as the number of people experiencing homelessness and living in temporary accommodation hit record levels in 2023/24.

To tackle homelessness, Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling for the Scottish Government to build more affordable homes to help address homelessness and offer help to renovate loans to bring derelict homes back into use.

The party also wants the government to increase the number of homes constructed for social rent and take forward the Housing First and Rapid Rehousing principles to end rough sleeping and homelessness, by providing housing and other support services to individuals in need.

Addressing the additional challenges for young homeless people with special pathways to link suitable jobs and training to housing should also be a priority, the party added.

Scottish Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Paul McGarry, who was himself made homeless at 16, said: “At Christmas time, most of us can count on a secure roof over our heads, but tens of thousands of Scots are not so fortunate.

“A lack of availability, skyrocketing prices and poor-quality housing has made life miserable for so many. The SNP have compounded those problems by previously slashing the housing budget by a quarter and failing to build the thousands of homes promised for social rent.

“Homelessness takes a severe toll on people’s mental and physical health. It also sets back children’s development in a way that can leave them worse off for life.

“After almost two decades at the helm, the SNP have failed to make a dent. It’s time to get to work on confronting the housing emergency, getting more houses built, maximising existing stock and giving everyone a safe place to call home.”

Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “Despite declaring a national housing emergency more than six months ago, Scotland has failed to get to grips with the human tragedy of homelessness, resulting in the highest number of homeless children on record - more than double the figure from a decade ago.

“Far too many children will wake up on Christmas Day in a place they can’t call home, often in cold, damp and unsuitable temporary housing that can be devastating to their wellbeing, disrupting all aspects of their childhoods.

“There is no silver bullet to the housing emergency, including Housing First, which only works if we have the right homes, in the right places for people who need them. The only way to end Scotland’s homelessness crisis is to build more social homes, and the government knows this.”

The Scottish Government said it is boosting the supply of affordable housing and aiming to reduce the need for families to stay in temporary accommodation.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have a strong track record in affordable housing, having supported the delivery of 135,000 affordable homes since 2007. That’s 47 per cent more per head of population than England and 73 per cent more than Wales.

“We want to ramp up that delivery by increasing the affordable housing supply budget to £768 million next year. This investment will help tackle the housing emergency while contributing towards our target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.”