​Shock statistics reveal an increase in the number of children that will be homeless at Christmas in Scotland this year

More than 5,000 children in Scotland will wake up homeless on Christmas Day, a leading charity has warned.

Housing charity Shelter Scotland said the fact there will be 626 more homeless children in Scotland this Christmas than last year – a 15% increase – is a badge of shame for such a relatively wealthy country.

And over 100,000 children will be homless across the UK, its research reveals.

Launching its winter appeal, the charity is using the latest Scottish Government homelessness statistics to raise awareness of the plight of homeless children who will spend this Christmas living in temporary accommodation.

Being homeless is detrimental to children’s health, life chances and education - Alison Watson

The charity says the increased number of homeless children indicates a growing bottleneck of families stuck in temporary accommodation due to the major shortage of affordable housing across Scotland.

Shelter Scotland is calling on all of Scotland’s political parties to include ambitious targets for new affordable housing in their manifestos for next year’s Holyrood election campaigns and bring hope to the 150,000 families and individuals stuck on council waiting lists across the country.

Alison Watson, deputy director of Shelter Scotland, said: “It’s completely unacceptable that in the 21st Century 100,000 children across Britain will spend Christmas homeless, with nearly 5,000 of them in Scotland.

“It’s even more damning that in Scotland this represents a 15% increase on the same statistics last year – so the problem seems to be getting worse, not better!

“Families with children can spend many weeks, months or even years stuck in temporary accommodation waiting for a house they can call home.

"Being homeless is particularly detrimental to children’s health, life chances and education, with recent research from the Commission on Housing and Wellbeing showing homeless children miss on average 55 school days each year.

“We simply have to do more to make sure no child is homeless at Christmas or at any other time.”

Each December Shelter Scotland’s helpline advisors have to help hundreds of families at risk of losing their home, said Watson.

“We need everyone’s support in the coming months so our teams can help prevent more people from becoming homeless or, if the worst happens, support them to get a decent roof over their heads.”

People can visit shelterscotland.org or text SHELTER to 70123* and donate £3 to support its work to prevent homelessness.