THERE is "unprecedented demand" for temporary accommodation in Fife with a huge jump in the number of homeless applications.

And council services are facing a perfect storm with financial challenges, their use of hostels set to breach new legislation and a warning that the situation is going to get worse.

Head of housing, John Mills, warned that while other departments move into recovery plans "the homelessness impact from the pandemic is still ahead of us".

In a report he said the "demand for temporary accommodation has increased dramatically" with around 900 households in temporary accommodation on a weekly basis.

It was around 250 and falling prior to the pandemic.

The majority of those 900 households are single people but also includes more than 340 children.

Mr Mills added: "This is a significant increase and disproportionate to the growth in temporary accommodation resources."

Councillors were given an update on the Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP) and the impact of the pandemic on housing access and homelessness services at last week's community and housing services sub committee.

RRTP receives funding of around £530,000 a year but the plan requirement is £1.5m a year.

Service manager Gavin Smith said there was "unprecedented demand" for temporary accommodation and explained: "It has happened over a period of time since the pandemic broke.

"The key drivers of homelessness are relationship breakdowns, and more particularly violent relationships breaking down, so more people are coming forward.

"Generally what we're finding is people who previously made their own arrangements to stay with friends or family for a period of time, that arrangement isn't sustainable and they're having to come forward for temporary accommodation.

"We are meeting that need but there's a bottleneck in terms of allocations and people getting a permanent tenancy so we're seeing, particularly families, spending longer in temporary accommodation simply because of an issue on the supply side."

There are more than 1,700 homeless households in Fife who are waiting for an offer of permanent accommodation, more than 300 have waited over a year.

Mr Mills added: "Recent figures produced by the Scottish Government indicate that Fife now has the highest presentation rate in Scotland with the exception of Glasgow."

And efforts to tackle the issue have received a bodyblow through the Unsuitable Accommodation Order (UAO).

It is designed to ensure homeless people do not spend any significant time in temporary accommodation which is deemed by the Scottish Government to be unsuitable, such as bed & breakfasts and hotels.

Mr Smith said they were "surprised" by a change in legislation that will mean homeless hostels without en-suite facilities will also be classified as unsuitable for length of stays of more than seven days.

There was an exemption during the pandemic but this expires on September 30 when six out of seven of the council’s hostels will be considered 'unsuitable'.

Asked to give an assurance that the council wouldn't breach the order, Mr Smith replied: "I can't give that assurance. I think we will breach it and we, along with six other local authorities, have made that position clear to the Scottish Government."

He added: "We're not going to change all the hostels overnight. It's going to take time."

The council have pledged to find an extra 50 scatter flats over the next 12 weeks and focus on void properties which could be used by homeless people.

Mr Mills has also sanctioned "out of Fife placements" in hotels and B&B’s to ensure they meet their statutory duty to accommodate all homeless people.

Priority actions, such as housing access hubs, scatter flat conversions, a focus on preventing homelessness and remodelling hostels, were also agreed.

He concluded: "There is strong evidence that Fife is continuing to face significant challenges and pressures on housing access and homelessness services and that this will only increase as Covid protection measures are withdrawn and revised legislation is introduced.

"With an unprecedented number of households, particularly households with children, in temporary accommodation and a significant backlog of need, greater priority needs to be given to

homelessness prevention and early intervention across the partnership systems."