How Scotland’s Temporary Accommodation System Breaks the Law — And Why We’re Done Pretending It Doesn’t Safeguarding is not a courtesy. It is not a “nice to have”. It is not something councils can switch on and off depending on the mood of their budget meeting. Safeguarding is law. And right now, across Scotland — and especially in Glasgow — that law is being broken in real time, in real buildings, with real consequences for women, children, men and trans people placed into unsafe temporary accommodation. This is not theory. This is not rhetoric. This is not “political debate”. This is harm, happening under the watch of public bodies who know the law, quote the law, and still choose to ignore the law. 1. What safeguarding actually means in Scotland — in law, not PR Safeguarding is not a vague moral duty. It is a legal framework with teeth. Scotland has some of the clearest statutory duties in the UK: Children Children (Scotland) Act 1995 Councils must safeguard and promote the welfare

In Scotland today, we are watching a modern Dust Bowl unfold — not of wind and sand, but of bureaucracy, broken duties, and doors closed in the faces of the homeless. Glasgow City Council has broken homelessness law thousands of times, leaving people on the streets even in sub‑zero temperatures. And like Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, the scandal is not just about poverty — it is about systems that know the law, know the duty, and still turn people away. Wherever there’s a soul turned from a warm bed, I’ll be there. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family arrive in California believing the handbills and promises of work. They discover the truth: the system never intended to help them. Today in Glasgow, people present as homeless — as the law entitles them to do — and are told: - No accommodation available. - Try again tomorrow. - Or worse: they are simply left outside, even during yellow weather warnings and temperatures as low as –4°C. Homeless Project Scotland reported eight people lef

Moral law springs from universal ethics, conscience or divine commands—it tells us what should be. Positive law is what a society’s legislature & courts formally enact and enforce—it tells us what must be. Government will be moral if they have funds