Scotland’s Housing Crisis Is Being Weaponised - Our Casework Tells a Different Story

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Last month our Housing & Homelessness casework team took up 126 cases involving refugees, people seeking asylum and other migrants across Scotland.

The overwhelming majority were not new arrivals or people outside the system. They were already in formal protection routes.

91% (115) were in recognised humanitarian pathways.

57% (72) were refugees with leave to remain.

34% (43) were people seeking asylum housed separately under Home Office contracts and legally excluded from mainstream social housing. They are not in the queue at all.

The housing need we saw was severe and immediate.

76% (96) were homeless, facing homelessness, or living in accommodation so unsuitable it was actively harming their health.

43% (54) were stuck long-term in hotels or hostels, often without cooking facilities, privacy or stability, living with pests, noise and overcrowding.

21% (26) were under threat of imminent eviction, including from temporary council placements.

12% (16) were already street homeless or sofa-surfing.

28% (35) reported serious disrepair — damp, mould, flooding, infestation or broken heating — conditions disproportionately affecting children and disabled adults.

Poverty ran through nearly every case.

63% (79) needed food or clothing vouchers simply to get through the week.

34% (45) were people seeking asylum surviving on less than £10 per week.

29% (37) were dealing with energy debt or council tax arrears.

Health and trauma were not side issues. They were central.

56% (71) disclosed mental health conditions, most commonly depression and anxiety.

36% (45) reported chronic physical illness or disability.

31% (39) were survivors of torture, trafficking or severe domestic abuse.

Poor housing was directly worsening these conditions: damp aggravating asthma, hotel living re-triggering trauma, overcrowding pushing families beyond endurance.

Safety was also fragile.

17% (21) reported racial abuse, harassment or feeling unsafe where they lived. Some described changing their routines, isolating themselves indoors, or moving areas altogether to avoid harm. We are also seeing more people leaving England for Scotland, not only because of housing pressures but because of racism and the belief that Scotland may be safer. That belief itself tells a story.

Against this reality, the current political narrative being pushed by Reform UK  ("illegals jumping the housing queue")  is nothing more than a political distraction, designed to blame people of colour using racially coded language  to foment prejudice and racism. 

You may remember that two months ago Nigel Farage targeted children whose first language was not English, implying that bilingual children in Glasgow were a problem. He was not referring to Glasgow’s 1,400 Gaelic-speaking schoolchildren from predominantly white Scots households. He was talking about children of colour. If those children were French or German speakers, you can bet there would be no issue.

Those who play the politics of division have no answers for ordinary working people. They peddle hate and set neighbour against neighbour. They offer zero solutions. Introducing so-called “Scots first” rules would undermine equalities law, stigmatise communities and pit people against each other while letting governments avoid responsibility for the real failure: housing supply.

Asylum seekers and people without status are categorically not on mainstream social housing lists. they are "reserved" to Westminster. They are housed separately under Home Office asylum contracts with Mears Group, who profit by the millions. How different it would be if the UK government had invested the billions it has paid asylum contractors since 2001 in the building of housing for everyone, including refugees. The claim that people seeking asylum are being prioritised is simply false. It is a vote-collecting tactic, nothing more. The same old playbook, recycled.

Scotland’s housing emergency is the result of decades of under-building, rising rents, poverty and the loss of social housing stock. Blaming immigrants does not create a single additional home. It misleads the public and lowers the level of debate. Racism, blame and division are not leadership. Scotland deserves better. The answer is a clear, costed social housebuilding programme, led by the Scottish Government and targeted at those in greatest housing need. If we want shorter waiting lists and stable communities, the solution is homes — not hate.

Robina Qureshi