​No buildings should be left empty when there are homeless on the streets they say

Campaigners have occupied a building in Glasgow city centre to highlight the plight of homeless people.

Activists from the political group Rise took over the premises in the Trongate to raise awareness that empty buildings shouild be used to house those in need.

The building underwent a £1.5million renovation in 2015 to transform it into high-end flats.

A spokesman for the campaigners said: "Over the past few months Rise members have been highlighting empty buildings around Scotland.

"We stated that unless these properties were used in a manner that would directly benefit our communities we would take actions to ensure that they were."

"As Christmas is approaching, families are forced to stretch household budgets further and deeper into debt, whilst land and property is hoarded and locked off to protect the wealth of a tiny minority.

"Our continued campaigning will focus on a variety of issues and topics that will highlight the deeply adverse economic and social effects property gate-keeping has on our working class communities.”

Latest figures show there are around 37,000 homes in Scotland which have been empty for at least six months, with more than half empty for over a year.

There were about 34,000 homeless applications between April 2016 and March 2017.

Rise said the figures show the majority of people facing homelessness in Scotland could be housed.