SCOTLAND will face a “tidal wave” of homelessness when Britain’s cost-of-living crisis bites in April as energy prices soar.

Campaigners say housing tenants already owe landlords £300 million in unpaid rent and 8,000 children are living in temporary accommodation, more than a quarter of them in Glasgow.

At a protest in Glasgow yesterday they called on the Scottish government to introduce a ban on evictions, a two-year freeze on housing rents and a crash programme of social and council house building.

The protest was organised by the Scottish Tenants’ Association and took place outside Glasgow City Hall council headquarters.

Association convenor Ian Clerkin said that of the nearly 8,000 children in temporary accommodation, 2,374 in Glasgow are “living on average for over a year in dreadful sub-standard temporary accommodation.”

He highlighted that social landlords in Scotland are owed rent arrears of over £174 million with a lot of that debt in Glasgow.

Private landlords in Scotland are also chasing tenants for £126 million of rent arrears when these very vulnerable people cannot pay the rent, Mr Clerkin said.

He warned that this means “we will witness a tidal wave of homelessness in Scotland unless there is rapid and meaningful intervention by the Scottish government to stop this catastrophe from happening.”

Mr Clerkin said that Glasgow City Council is to charge £364.64 for accommodation in temporary homeless hostels in the city from April 4.

And he demanded that “the Scottish government take the necessary actions now” by introducing the eviction ban and rent freeze.

The Scottish government was invited to comment.