Housing advice calls soar 40%

Housing charity Shelter Scotland has seen a rise of almost 40 per cent in the number of people turning to it for help in just two years.

It received 1925 calls to its free housing advice line last month, up from 1636 in the same period last year and 37 per cent more than in July 2010.

Between January and July this year, 14,418 people got in touch with the charity seeking advice, compared with just over 20,000 calls received in the whole of 2011. Shelter Scotland director Graeme Brown he was “deeply concerned” but “not surprised”.