The properties will be used to house homeless people.

Scotland’s largest housing and care group is making empty homes available as temporary accommodation for homeless people during the coronavirus crisis.

Wheatley Group will offer the properties to the four local authorities with which it has a strategic agreement: Glasgow, Edinburgh, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian.

It hopes to make 300 homes available over the next three months as part of the national campaign to slow the spread of the virus.

Wheatley chief executive Martin Armstrong said the group was determined to do all it could, working with its partners, to protect some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“We are committed to supporting the most vulnerable during these extremely difficult times,” he said.

“We estimate up to 300 homes across Scotland could be handed on to our four strategic housing partners in the next three months.”

Glasgow Cathcart MSP James Dornan welcomed the offer. He said: “In this time of emergency, everyone has a responsibility to do all they can to combat Covid-19.

“I’m delighted to see Glasgow Housing Association and Wheatley Group lead by example and hope this will now be replicated across the sector.”

Wheatley’s 500 housing staff across Scotland are currently working from home, while environmental staff continue to carry out essential duties such as fire safety patrols and cleaning across the 93,000 properties owned or managed by the group.

“Our over-riding priority is to ensure tenants and their families remain safe and secure in their homes while safeguarding the welfare and wellbeing of our staff,” said Mr Armstrong.

“Our dedicated staff are doing a fantastic job in the most difficult of circumstances,” he added.

“As always, they have gone the extra mile in creating and adapting to a challenging working environment, helping us put in place a new service model that enables us to support tenants, their families and communities at a time of acute concern.”