For immediate release
Sunday 5 April 2026
Blaming refugees will not provide a single new home, but a specific, costed strategy will
Glasgow's housing emergency did not start with refugees. It has been building for decades. The city lost large numbers of social homes and did not replace them. Supply has not kept up with demand. The system has been under pressure for a long time.
The council formally declared a housing emergency in November 2023 because homelessness demand was already exceeding capacity.
What changed more recently was that the UK Government sped up asylum decisions. People were granted refugee status and then required to leave Home Office accommodation within 28 days. Having been forbidden to work during the asylum process, most have no housing to go to. Inevitably, because of the system, they became homeless.
Refugees are not displacing others. They are being pushed into the same system.
Reform claims migrants are being given priority over local people. That is incorrect.
In Scotland, homelessness assistance is based on need. Once someone has refugee status, they have the same legal rights as anyone else. There is no separate system and no priority based on nationality.
Data showing high numbers of refugees in temporary accommodation does not prove preferential treatment. It shows that refugees are more likely to be stuck in unsuitable accommodation such as hotels and B&Bs. Many are made ill by staying there long term. People cannot cook food specific to their diet and are forced to rely on repetitive, high-carbohydrate packaged food.
The housing crisis is driven by lack of supply, rising costs, and long-term policy failure, not refugees. There are many others who are not refugees and who need homelessness support because of the lack of social housing. That is the evidence of the problem.
Blaming refugees will not provide a single new home, nor will it end the housing emergency. What is needed is a specific, costed housing strategy to build new homes for everyone. Reform has focused on attributing the crisis to refugees and migrants, but has not explained how new homes would be funded, built or delivered at scale.
Robina Qureshi
https://www.paih.org/blaming-refugees-will-not-provide-a-single-new-home-but-a-specific-costed-strategy-will/
ENDS
Notes for editors:
Positive Action in Housing is an independent anti racist homelessness and human rights charity based in Glasgow. Each year we support over 4,300 refugee, migrant and minority ethnic families facing destitution, homelessness and racist harassment.
We see directly how hostile rhetoric against immigrants and their children turns into bullying, fear and exclusion in classrooms, workplaces and neighbourhoods. As a charity, we have a legitimate role in speaking out when public discourse harms, or risks harming, the people we exist to support.
