Scottish Liberal Democrats call for emergency action to end rough sleeping

With hundreds of people sleeping rough across Scotland in this weekend's yellow weather warning, the Scottish Liberal Democrats are calling on the SNP government to move faster to tackle the housing emergency.

Recent research from homelessness charity Crisis estimated that around 1,000 people sleep rough in Scotland on any given night, and other statistics paint a grim picture:

• There were 41,443 homelessness applications in 2025-26, the highest number since 2011-12
• There were 34,965 open homelessness applications as of the end of March 2026, the highest on record
• The number of households reporting rough sleeping the night before an application has increased to its highest level since 2008/09

Despite this, the SNP are planning to scale back the release of homeless death statistics from annual to once every two years.

Scottish Liberal Democrats housing spokesperson Morven-May MacCallum said:

"Every time severe weather bears down on Scotland, people with no shelter are stuck in its path. Many of them cannot take it for granted that they'll survive.

"These are the stakes of Scotland's housing crisis. That's despite the fact that Holyrood has ample powers to halve rough sleeping within the next five years. With winter on our doorstep, we need the Scottish government to step up its efforts immediately and start putting rough sleeping to an end.

"The housing crisis is a matter of social justice, but it's also a matter of life and death."