Monday June 1st 2026
Glasgow City Chambers
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sarah Hilley
Eighty seven homeless children in Glasgow got places to stay after social housing tenants gave up 35 larger homes with three or more bedrooms.
The move is part of council scheme, which sees people who are under occupying larger homes move to other smaller flats.
Under the Citywide Housing Transfer Incentive Scheme 35 homes were allocated to homeless families during the last financial year between 2025 to 2026.
People staying in social housing with spare bedrooms are offered cash incentives to leave with removal, decoration and floor covering costs covered.
The programme, which was announced by the council in 2019, is designed to make bigger flats or houses available for larger homeless families living in temporary accommodation.
At the time, the council estimated that savings of up to £59,000 could be made per household due to a reduction in the length of stays for families in B&Bs or hotels and would prevent overcrowding.
There are currently more than 4,200 households in temporary accommodation in Glasgow, according to the council’s website – as the city is in the grip of a housing emergency.
Information on the Citywide Housing Transfer Incentive Scheme will be presented to the council’s economy, housing, transport and regeneration city policy committee next week as part of an update on actions in Glasgow’s Local Housing Strategy.
A council report prepared for the committee reads: “NRS Housing will continue to deliver the Citywide Housing Transfer Incentive Scheme. A total of 35 family homes were allocated via the scheme during 2025 to 2026 to families experiencing homelessness, including a total of 87 children.”
It adds: “Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership are working with key partners and stakeholders across Glasgow to take forward a whole system action plan to address the housing and homelessness pressures.”
There is a goal to deliver a total of 13,000 homes in the city between 2023 to 2028 – half of them are to be affordable.
Among actions taking place to tackle the homelessness crisis is work to allocate 67 per cent of available social housing lets to homeless people and increase the supply of affordable homes.
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