THE SNP housing secretary said yesterday that she would “rather see the length of time spent” in temporary accommodation drop than predict when record high homelessness in Scotland will drop.

Mairi McAllan made the remarks after the latest Scottish government statistics showed that while the number of fresh homelessness applications came down in September 2025, the total number of homeless households had soared to a record 18,092.

A record 10,480 children are growing up in those households.

But Ms McAllan drew comfort from the fall in the average length of time households spent in temporary accommodation from 241 days between October 2024 and March 2025, to 237 from April to September 2025.

Pointing to the £926 million the Scottish government has earmarked for affordable housebuilding and a further £80m to allow councils to buy temporary accommodation, she said: “I hope that all of that will mean that in statistics to come, yes, temporary accommodation will still be there for families who need it, but they will be moving swiftly into a permanent home.”

Challenged on whether the next batch of statistics covering this winter would show any fall in the number of homeless households languishing in temporary accommodation, she added: “What I would rather see is the length of time spent in temp coming down. 

“Because, as I say, temporary accommodation is a fundamental part of support that the state offers, so people using it when they’re homeless – it’s not a good thing – but it’s part of protection operating.

“What I would like to see, is the time spent in it coming down, because people will be moving on to their permanent accommodation sooner.”