SCOTLAND’S Housing Minister has denied the Scottish Government is “gaslighting” the public on homelessness after receiving criticism from charities.

Figures released on Tuesday showed the number of open homelessness cases in Scotland is at its highest level on record.

The statistics reveal 30,724 live applications were recorded on September 30 of last year, an increase from the previous high of 30,129 in June 2023. Compared with the same period the previous year, the number of unresolved applications had increased by 10%.

Gordon MacRae, assistant director for communications at Shelter Scotland, accused the Scottish Government of “gaslighting” the public for claiming it was making good progress with homelessness.

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He criticised a planned £190 million cut to the housing budget, which is set to be approved today by the Scottish Government.

But Paul McLennan, the Government’s Housing Minister, has hit back and denied this, pointing the finger at the UK Government which has reduced Scotland’s capital budget by 10%.

He highlighted the Scottish Government investing £60 million to support a national acquisition plan to buy private sector properties.

Asked if he was gaslighting the public, he said: “Not at all, I think we’re working very hard on that [homelessness].

“We’ll continue to work with local authorities in terms of acquisitions and how we can help them build houses at a quicker rate.

“We’re got to take [into account] the important context that we’ve got a 10% capital budget cut from the UK Government.

“It’s put pressure on ourselves and it’s put pressure on the Welsh government and on UK Government departments as well. The one thing I would say to the UK Government when it looks at its Budget next week is to try to reverse that capital budget cut. That would help us build more houses quicker and tackle homelessness quicker.”

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McLennan made a plea to the UK Government to be given the powers others in his position have across Europe to borrow money.

He added: “I can’t go out and borrow like any other housing minister in Europe to build more houses, I don’t have the power to do that. That’s one ask I would have of the UK Government is give us the power to borrow more money.”

The number of people who applied for homelessness assistance between April and September last year having slept rough the night before was also the highest since at least 2020, at 888 – an increase of 23% from the same period the previous year.

Applications from people who reported having slept rough in the last three months was 1408 – a 20% increase from the previous year.

MacRae said: “It’s beyond belief for us that we have a Scottish Government that claims that they’re making overall good progress towards ending homelessness, and then the very same day we see these statistics where you’ve got a 1400% increase in councils breaking the law when it comes to helping homeless people and then the government want to cut the housing budget by 26%.

“It’s a form of gaslighting to the Scottish public.”