Thursday February 12th 2026
Glasgow City Chamber
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Drew Sandelands
City treasurer Ricky Bell is “very confident” a solution will be found for Glasgow’s huge homelessness bill, ahead of a budget meeting this month.
Glasgow City Council, which declared a housing emergency in 2023, could face an overspend of around £56m in homelessness services, although Green councillors recently raised concerns that this could rise to over £90m.
Councillors will meet to set a budget for 2026/27 on February 24. Cllr Bell, SNP, the council’s deputy leader, said talks are ongoing with the Scottish Government over the homelessness issue.
The massive bill is due to high demand for accommodation, with around £4.5m per month spent on unsuitable B&Bs or hotels. Around half of the demand for homelessness assistance is from refugees.
At a city administration committee meeting today (Thursday), Glasgow Greens co-leader, Cllr Jon Molyneux, said governments need to “step up” to support the council.
He added: “It’s still frustrating, as an elected member who is trying to engage with that budget, that there is still no certainty… and, ultimately, whether the Scottish Government are going to put their hands in their own pockets to help Glasgow with a problem that is not of our making.”
The city’s Green group wanted councillors to hold an extraordinary meeting ahead of setting the annual budget due to the “severity” of the crisis in the city, warning of drastic cuts and council tax rises. However, its proposal did not receive enough support from other political groups.
Cllr Bell said that while talks are ongoing, it wouldn’t be “prudent” to comment. “We are still discussing how we move forward with the homeless issue,” he added. “I am very confident there will be a solution, I’m just not sure which one it’ll be yet.
“I’m pushing to get the best solution for Glasgow. I agree entirely with your comment that this is not a problem of Glasgow’s making and it shouldn’t be a problem that Glasgow has to sort.”
He said council officials would issue a report to all political groups on the financial situation “once we know what the government plan to do with the homelessness overspend”.
At an integration joint board (IJB) meeting in January, members were told the council’s homelessness pressure of £56m relates to “continuing trends around those presenting in the city who have been given leave to remain”. Over three quarters of households in B&Bs or hotels were refugees, health chiefs said.
Once someone seeking asylum has been granted leave to remain, they have 56 days to leave Home Office accommodation and find housing. Many are left homeless and require help from the council.
Councils in England house people in ‘priority need’ but in Scotland rules cover anyone who is unintentionally homeless. Refugees who have been granted leave to remain in other parts of the UK can also make a homeless application to a Scottish council.
Asked about wider financial pressures on council departments, Cllr Bell said: “While the Scottish Government is correct to say there is an increase in the budget they have allocated to local government this year, it does not in any way match the increases that we are seeing in demand.”
“We are seeing that in social work, we are seeing it in education where there is significant demand on our ASN [additional support needs] provision, on our classroom assistants.
“Shona Robison [the Scottish Government finance secretary] would say to you if she was in the room today that is partly because her allocation from the UK Government doesn’t continue to grow enough either.”
He added IJBs, which manage health and social care services, are “really struggling”. “The government needs to find a way of solving that,” he added. “I don’t think it’s acceptable for them to expect us to solve that problem because we don’t have the money to do that.”
After the upcoming Holyrood election, a “grown-up discussion” on future local government funding is needed, Cllr Bell said.
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