TALKS are underway with Glasgow hoteliers ahead of the arrival of thousands of Commonwealth Games athletes amid concerns over the potential impact on homeless people in the city.
Due to the reduced costs of the games in 2026, there will be no athletes’ village in Glasgow, with competitors and officials set to stay in hotels.
When Taylor Swift concerts were held in Edinburgh earlier this year, homeless people usually put up in hotels or B&Bs as emergency accommodation were offered stays outside the capital due to shortages.
Councils must offer emergency temporary accommodation to people declared homeless in Scotland — and hostels, B&Bs or hotels can be used. Glasgow declared a housing emergency in November last year due to rising homelessness.
Speaking at a council meeting, Greens councillor Jon Molyneux said he has a “big concern” over the “impact on our homelessness services” during the Commonwealth Games and the “strain” that is already being put on hotels and B&Bs.
He added: “We saw when Taylor Swift came to Murrayfield that Edinburgh City Council moved some of its homeless population out of hotels in Edinburgh out to Bathgate, because of some of the price gouging that went on.
“That is a concern for me, I would like some assurances that this is fairly high up on a risk register for the council around all of this.”
Labour councillor Elaine McDougall, asked the council’s chief executive Susanne Millar if she was “confident” there would be no “added pressure on the housing emergency”. Millar said the issues had been “immediately raised as a risk”.
Health and social care officials have “begun a conversation with the hotels that we do use in an attempt to try and take a resolution”, she added.
The chief executive said they would “work with our hoteliers to see if there are solutions”.
“I would like to reassure you that we have raised that as a very specific risk.”
She added discussions with “both our hoteliers and with Commonwealth Games partners” are at “early stages”, but she would update councillors on their progress.
Following a request from the city’s Green group, it has been agreed that the council will set up a political oversight group, with cross-party members, to assess the ongoing “opportunities and risks associated with Glasgow hosting the games”.
