Glasgow branded "asylum capital" as homelessness costs soar to £56 million

Under the Scottish National Party’s (SNP) homelessness rules, councils have a legal duty to provide accommodation to people assessed as homeless, including refugees granted permission to remain in Britain after claiming asylum.

Lord Offord, Leader of Reform UK Scotland, told Holyrood homeless asylum seekers had done "significant damage" to the country and councils should "focus on housing our own local Scots in need".

And Reform UK Scotland’s Deputy Leader Thomas Kerr told GB News: "Glasgow, where I’m sitting at the current moment, is the asylum capital of Great Britain."

Critics say the SNP’s 2022 decision under then-leader Nicola Sturgeon to scrap the "local connection" policy, which required homeless applicants to have roots in the authority they apply to, has fuelled the crisis.

Mr Kerr added: "You no longer have [the local connection policy], which means that loads of people who are granted leave to remain are now flocking to Scotland and been given priority over people who are here in this country."

An audit of the council’s finances - released on Thursday - warned the rise in homelessness was putting pressure on the authority.

"Costs in respect of homelessness have been a significant area of financial pressure on the council," the report read.

Andrew Burns, the Deputy Chair of the Accounts Commission, Scotland’s local authorities watchdog, said how Glasgow City Councillors tackle the crisis could significantly impact the authority’s financial viability.

"The council is at a challenging point; decisions made over the coming months will have a significant bearing on financial sustainability and on the services that communities receive in future," he said in a statement to Audit Scotland.

Spending on the crisis is expected to balloon from £38million in 2025-26 to an expected £56million in 2026-27, according to the report.

Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority, had to deal with more than 2,000 homeless applications from people from outside of Scotland last year, Lord Offord said.

The Reform MSP also claimed the City of Edinburgh Council has "frozen" council housing applications from homeless Scots to give “priority to asylum applicants".

But John Swinney, Scotland’s First Minister, told Holyrood "that what Mr Offord has put to Parliament is not the case".

He said: "It is really important at a time when our country is being affected by the type of disinformation that is being put forward, and has just been put forward to Parliament, that we have clear and authoritative information."

The First Minister added: "What I am seeking to do is to bring this country together and Lord Offord is trying to drive this country apart."

Reform UK Scotland is not the only party to name homeless asylum seekers as a significant strain on finances.

Alexander Burnett MSP, the Scottish Tories’ local government spokesman, said: "This is a stark warning that Glasgow’s finances and front-line services have been pushed to breaking point by years of SNP policies.

"Their decision to abolish local connection and priority need rules has made Glasgow a magnet for asylum seekers."

The number of applicants for homeless accommodation in Glasgow whose asylum status was granted outside Scotland surged from 269 to 813 between 2021-22 and 2024-25, before dropping in 2025-26 to 720.

SNP councillor Ricky Bell, the deputy leader, told The Telegraph: "The issues and challenges called out in this report are not a surprise to us – they are things that we are planning for and working to address every single day.

"The Accounts Commission recognises that many of those challenges are not unique to Glasgow – and that others, such as the pressure on homelessness budgets, are not of the city’s making."