THE number of people reporting having slept rough in West Dunbartonshire has shot up by 1,300 per cent.

In a report by the Scottish Government, the number of people applying to West Dunbartonshire Council for homelessness has gone from just five people in 2017-18 to 70 in 2018-19.

People who told the council they had slept on the street the night before making their application had also risen massively, from zero the year before, to 35.

The number had previously been on the decline from the previous year, 2016-17, which saw 105 people being on the streets in the three months before their application, and 50 saying they were out in the cold the night before.

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In total, the number of people who were accepted by the council to be homeless, or nearly homeless across the area, has reached almost 1,000.

According to the figures, 930 applications were accepted by WDC in 2018-19, hovering around the same level as the previous year, which saw 915 people deemed homeless.

Homelessness applications have also stayed the same from year to year, with 2018-19 seeing a small decrease in the total, which now stands at 1,040 - down from 1,055.

Kevin Stewart, the housing minister at the Scottish Government said: “In a country with some of the strongest rights in the world, it is unacceptable for anyone to find themselves without a home. Our Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan sets out a range of measures that support our ambition to eradicate rough sleeping, transform temporary accommodation and end homelessness altogether.”

A spokesman for Shelter Scotland said: “These statistics expose the devastating impact Scotland’s housing emergency is having on people’s lives.”