Details obtained by the Evening Times obtained via a Freedom of Information request revealed that private landlords in the city have earned a total of £1,651,920 since 2013.

The council pays a higher rent to private landlords per flat than it does to Registered Social Landlords.

Last year there were 1,673 flats rented by the council across the city to accommodate people who are homeless and awaiting a permanent tenancy.

The vast majority are rented from the social sector but 43 are rented from private landlords in the city.

The council spent £6.7m last year on 1,630 flats from social landlords working out at an average of £346 per month per flat.

For the 42 private flats the council spent £219,259 meaning an average of £424.92 per month per flat which is 22.8% higher.

The data also shows in recent years the spending on private flats has been halved from £442,794 in 2013/14.

Five years ago the council was paying an average of 7,768 per year per flat to the private sector or almost £650 per month.

The council houses around 2,000 families a year in temporary accommodation in flats across the city

Earlier this year the council was criticised for keeping people in temporary accommodation for too long.

The Scottish Housing Regulator found people were spending an average of 228 days in a temporary flat.

In the last five years the number of available flats for homeless accommodation has been increased from 1,288 to 1,630 although there were 55 fewer in 2017/18 than the previous year.

The council said it has managed to bring down the cost while paying market rents to the private sector.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “The figures show that our efforts to secure a higher number of temporary furnished flats from housing associations have been paying off.

“However, we do also have to look to the private sector for properties to help meet demand for temporary housing.

“A market rent is paid for these properties but we have managed to bring down expenditure to the private sector.”

In total Glasgow City Council paid out £30,312,113 to Registered Social Landlords in the last five years.