HOMELESS DEATH TOLL UP BY 40%

Inaction by politicians blasted as figures show 'shameful' rise in fatalities on our streets

- JOHN DINGWALL

PEOPLE sleeping rough in Scotland are dying in record numbers despite pledges to tackle the housing crisis.

Independent figures show the death toll among those without somewhere to live has risen by more than 40 per cent in the last year, from 158 to 206.

It comes after the Scottish Government acknowledged a housing emergency in May.

Last night, Shelter Scotland director Alison Watson said: "People should not be dying with nowhere safe and permanent to call home but that is the grim reality of Scotland's housing emergency.

"Earlier this year, the Scottish Government declared a housing emergency but we've yet to see the kind of urgent, radical, response we need to end it.