More Renfrewshire families are begging for a home despite measures to prevent homelessness during the pandemic.
More than 300 families and individuals are currently homeless in the local authority area.
The figure jumped from 292 live cases to 326 between the end of March 2020 and March 2021.
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But homelessness charity Shelter Scotland has warned that number could rocket to record levels when emergency laws restricting evictions and repossessions during the covid crisis are lifted.
The emergency legislation saw the number of homelessness applications to Renfrewshire Council fall marginally, by five percent, from 874 in 2019/20 to 832 in 2020/21.
Nationally, it fell by 13 per cent because evictions were restricted by law.
But delays to getting people into new, permanent homes has resulted in rising numbers of households in temporary accommodation and councils seeing case loads near an all-time high.
Gordon MacRae, assistant director of Shelter Scotland, said: “These figures show that the unprecedented action taken to keep people in their homes during the pandemic has worked. It meant that the number of people applying for homelessness assistance went down overall.
“Despite this, council homelessness teams have never been busier, exposing that local services are at breaking point and may be unable to cope with a future spike in homelessness when pandemic restrictions are lifted.”
In Renfrewshire the fear is that the lifting of restrictions will drive up homelessness to the record high of 376 live cases in 2011.
The number of families in which at least one person slept rough in the three months prior to their homelessness application peaked at 130 in 2006/07.
Mr MacRae said the Scottish Government needed to learn the lessons of what has worked to prevent homelessness during the pandemic and demand that landlords to do more to keep people in the home they have.
Natalie Don, MSP for Renfrewshire North and West praised charities, Renfrewshire Council and the emergency legislation for securing accommodation for people during the pandemic and welcomed the Scottish Government’s £37.5 million investment in settled housing.
But she too has raised concerns about a potential spike in homelessness once the legislation ends.
She said: “With the Tory government planning to halt the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and close the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in September, I am very concerned that the current 12 per cent increase in live homeless cases we are experiencing in Renfrewshire will be exacerbated.
“I fully support the coordinated local action which is needed to ensure anyone losing their home can access suitable long-term accommodation.”
A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson said it has continued to offer specialist support via its 24hr helpline throughout the pandemic.
He said: “In 2020, in line with the national picture, there was an increase in homelessness in Renfrewshire.
“The scale of recorded homelessness has fallen steadily since October with many people being supported to move on to settled accommodation in recent months.
“The most recent data shows our figures are lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2018.
“If anyone finds themselves with nowhere to stay, we can be contacted on 0141 618 7200 during office hours, or 0800 121 4466 at any other time.”
