As raw as it gets
As the homeless are left to curl up outside Glasgow City Council HQ, SNP councillors continue to defend the indefensible
Scotland’s homelessness crisis continues, with the numbers of households in temporary accommodation rising and the numbers securing settled accommodation falling. Meanwhile thousands of destitute sleep rough on the streets of the fifth largest economy on earth. And the SNP are not helping matters.
On the 4th of January 2022 a person was spotted by local charity Homeless Project Scotland. In sub zero temperatures, a homeless person lay curled up in a sleeping bag. The chosen place to spend the night was the doorsteps of Glasgow City Chambers - headquarters of the council running Scotland’s largest city.
The desperate person chose to curl up to sleep at the doors of the City Council. But the doors were sealed shut. Bolted, blocking entry into the grade A listed building.
And the building he was denied access to, and was sleeping outside of, is a grand HQ for the SNP-led City Council to be sure. Boasting Beaux arts style, the building is an interpretation of Renaissance Classicism. Incorporating Italianate styles with a vast range of ornate decoration, all used to express the wealth, power and industrial export-led economic prosperity of the Second City of the Empire.
Inside, where the destitute rough sleeper was denied entry, is a mixture of mosaic, artistry and mahogany. All centrally heated, carefully and lovingly maintained. There is the ornate banqueting hall, which is 33.5m (110 ft) long by 14.6 m (48 ft) wide and 15.8 m (52 ft) high. And also the Council Chamber itself, which is clad in Spanish mahogany panelling and has windows made of Venetian stained glass.
But none of that helps the destitute sleeping in the freezing cold on the doorstep. None of that is for their eyes to see.
The charity Homeless Project Scotland, who operate a soup kitchen in the city under the Hielenman's Umbrella, tweeted out a demand for the SNP run City Council to open their doors. They did not.
“Very sad to find people sleeping rough at Glasgow City Chambers while the heating is on inside your left to freeze outside shocking!! Open your Doors !!!!”
The Charity chairperson Colin McInnes is the man who spotted the rough sleeper, as he was undertaking a live stream with the charity's street team around 1am on the 4th. He described the sight,
"It's absolutely disgraceful. You'll see it yourself it's as raw as it comes. Myself and my colleague Alan were doing a live stream with our street team and we were walking across George Square when we saw a sleeping bag in the distance in the doorway at the City Chambers.”
The desperate rough sleeper, who tied his bicycle up outside, perhaps chose that spot in the hopes he might get a small trickle of heat sneaking out from beneath the sealed and barred doors.
That one man was thankfully helped that night because of the good works of Colin McInnes. They were able to help him find temporary accommodation, escaping the three days he had been left to sleep on the streets. But many others are not so lucky.
Currently there are 25,226 open homelessness cases in Scotland as of 31st March 2021. This represents a 10% increase compared to 31st March 2020 according to the Scottish Government’s own statistics.
Scotland witnessed 33,792 homeless applications in 2020/21. And while this is a 9% decrease compared to 2019/20, we should note that the numbers in temporary accommodation is rising. There were 13,097 households in temporary accommodation at 31st March 2021, an increase of 12% compared to March 31st 2020.
So, the numbers of open homelessness cases rising, the numbers in temporary accommodation rising. To break the numbers down even further, that 10% increase in open homelessness cases represents 2,294 more applications. And that is as of 2019/20-2020/21. That was while the pandemic measures saw furlough payments taking place, businesses that had become effectively bankrupt kept in artificial stasis via government support. And while emergency breaks on evictions were in place.
What do you think will happen to the number of homelessness applications once we escape the emergency pandemic measures? Shelter Scotland has already begun to warn people on their website that the ban on evictions is no longer in place, urging people to know their rights as landlords slowly begin resuming evictions.
Remarkably however, the Scottish National Party councillors in Glasgow seem too distracted to worry about the homelessness crisis. Perhaps this is because Cllr Susan Aitken, SNP leader of Glasgow City Council, has spent the last few years seeking to defend rather than oppose nearly £1bn of SNP cuts to Scottish local authorities.
“The challenges of the 21st century are far too big for what Aitken calls “municipal paternalism” – or as some in her administration would say, “the old-style socialism of Scottish Labour”. It’s not a rejection of “municipalism”, she says, but of “statism”. With so much change coming “we don’t want to see a repeat of what happened when Easterhouse and Castlemilk were built”. This time, she wants people making decisions about their own areas.”
A pity about nearly £1bn in accumulative SNP cuts to local authorities. But aren’t you lucky to have Cllr Aitken to save you from ‘paternalism’, ‘old-style socialism’ and ‘statism’.
I wonder if the homeless sleeper ignored as if he were a bin-bag filled with rubbish outside the City Chambers feels liberated from ‘paternalism’? Or maybe he just hopes for a pro-active council that is focused on poverty relief, redistributive justice and hope rather than Thatcheresque rhetoric about ‘self help’ and rolling back the frontiers of the state?
But it is not just Cllr Aitken who requires an urgent reality check. There is also the (former) SNP Lord Provost for Glasgow. Back in 2019 she decided it was morally acceptable to bill taxpayers over £8,000 on shoes and clothes.
SNP councillor Eva Bolander and former Lord Provost claimed:
£1,150 on 23 pairs of shoes
£435 for seven blazers between May 2017 and August 2019
£992 for 14 dresses
£665 for five coats
£374.50 for six jackets
£152 for underwear
£751 for 10 haircuts
£479 for 20 nail treatments
£66 on make-up
Life is alright for some. We have Cllr Bolander claiming £8,000 on shoes, clothes and beauty treatments and Cllr Aitken justifying SNP cuts as saving the destitute from ‘paternalism’ and Scottish Labour variety ‘socialism’.
It is a shame about the 33,792 homeless applications and rising numbers left in temporary as opposed to secure and permanent accommodation this winter. But the SNP council is telling us there is no money you see. Cuts need to be made. That’s certainly what Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes thinks, as she imposes yet another real-terms cut on Scottish councils in her latest budget, including cuts to Housing too.
Real terms cuts to local government, cuts to housing. Meanwhile are are 33,792 homeless applications in 2020/21. But thank goodness the SNP did manage to find money to increase the ‘Constitution, External Affairs & Culture’ Portfolio…
Housing might be cut, local government cut back (again), but don’t worry because ‘culture and major events’ budget is going up from £27.6m to £33.4m…in a pandemic…where mass social gatherings are being restricted by the SNP…
I don’t know about you, but I find Scotland’s homelessness crisis, and the SNP’s nonchalant attitude regarding it is as raw as it gets.
A correction was made to the original article. It identified Cllr Eva Bolander as current Lord Provost, but she resigned last year. She remains a Cllr.
Sources:
Shropshire Star: ‘Lord Provost criticised over £8,000 claim on shoes and clothes’
Herald: ‘Glasgow's Lord Provost claims £8,000 on clothing and beauty treatments’
Shelter Scotland: ‘Scottish housing advice: coronavirus (COVID-19)’
ScotGov Homelessness Statistics: ‘Homelessness in Scotland: 2020 to 2021’
GlasgowLive: ‘Homeless person pictured sleeping rough in sub-zero temperatures outside Glasgow City Chambers’
Herald: ‘SNP told to 're-set' councils' relationship after £937m cuts revealed’
STV: ‘Councils unanimously ‘appalled’ by ‘barely survivable’ Scottish Budget’
ScotGov budget: ‘Scottish Budget 2022 to 2023’
You, once again, have done all the work but there seems very little reward for it. You really need to spread this knowledge on FB and Twitter etc so that even those who do not subscribe to your blog will see the SNP for what it is.