More people took part this year but less money was raised
Social Bite is to ditch its annual sleep out - despite it becoming one the biggest fundraisers in Scottish history.
On Saturday an estimated 10,000 people in four Scottish cities braved sub-zero temperatures to raise an estimated £3.4 million for homeless people.
However Josh Littlejohn, the charity's co-founder, said holding events simultaneously in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Glasgow had been challenging and that fundraising targets had not been met.
Last year's inaugural event in Edinburgh, which saw 8,000 people take part, raised £4m – substantially more than this year’s estimates despite 2,000 more people taking part.
Littlejohn said next year’s event “will not necessarily be in the Sleep in the Park format.”
He added: “It’s a really difficult event to do two years in a row. A lot of people who did it last year viewed it as a once in a lifetime experience.
“It is a lot of effort for people to raise money from their friends and families, and everything else that is entailed with it. I’m relieved and very grateful to everyone that has signed up and got behind it.”
Participants each raised a minimum of £100 each to attend the night, enjoying stripped back busking sets from various musicians.
It comes as the director of Angus Housing Association described the sleepouts as “patronising.”
Bruce Forbes said: "I'm not critical of the fact that it's raising awareness or the fact that it's raising funds, but I think it is the fact that it now seems to be becoming an annual event which, really in a lot of ways, I think is quite patronising to homeless people.
"They're having to sleep out every night, are not being entertained, they're not sleeping in very high quality sleeping bags - it's really not appropriate to try to replicate."
Social Bite says the events have enabled 830 houses made available for rough sleepers, allowing them to get their own long term tenancies with support.
Littlejohn added: “We won't end homelessness after one night, but we have made one giant leap towards that goal. And that is the achievement of everyone who took part."
