The housing and homelessness charity presented the letter and the full list of signatories to the Scottish Government at its headquarters in St Andrews House yesterday.

It calls on the First Minister to acknowledge the ongoing housing emergency in Scotland and demands that he deliver a concrete plan of action to end it.

The handover marks a year since the task and finish group on temporary accommodation, established by the Scottish Government, completed its work and submitted its recommendations on how to reduce the use of temporary accommodation and the length of time homeless households were required to stay there.

The signatures were presented by Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson and Stacey Grieve, a client of the charity.

Stacey has been homeless for nine years and lives in temporary accommodation with her six-year-old son – he is one of the 9,595 children in Scotland currently living in temporary accommodation.

Shelter Scotland director, Alison Watson, said: “Scotland is in a housing emergency and, whether he accepts it or not, it’s getting worse on the First Minister’s watch.

“In the year since the Scottish Government was given recommendations on how to tackle the enormous overreliance on temporary accommodation, we’ve had a lot of warm words but no action.

“I was honoured to co-chair the group which delivered those recommendations, one of which was that the Scottish Government should buy and build more social homes. Instead, the housing budget has been targeted for brutal cuts.

“Ministers have made a choice; they’ve chosen to let the housing emergency continue to deteriorate and they’ve chosen to accept the fact that more and more children will have nowhere to call home.

“The 10,000 people who’ve signed our open letter won’t tolerate this, they won’t stand by while 45 children on average become homeless every single day in Scotland, and they won’t accept continued inaction from the First Minister.”

Stacey Grieve added: “I’m not just here for myself, I’m here for every single homeless person in Edinburgh, across Scotland, and around the world.”