Rhys Campbell, homeless person says his local authority is very poor.

"My housing officer has more holiday's than Santa Claus," he says.

Mr Campbell says he was made a housing offer but asked if there are other offers because he wanted to make sure he was in the safest accommodation possible.

He says because he was interested in supported accommodation and his housing officer was off on holiday his request was not made live for 28 days.

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Saffron Rohan says in her experience "there is a postcode lottery in the after care support young people get".

Ms Rohan says: "My experience with social services was terrible if anything they made my life worse they did not improve it."

She says there are pockets of good practice around the country however.

Green MSP Andy Wightman says no one should be made homeless because their landlord goes bankrupt.

Mr Wightman asks about the witnesses experiences with charities and if there are services and systems that they think are getting it right.

Emma Pearce says Shelter have been very good with her and that she did not feel like she belonged.

Ms Pearce says she was given a four year anti-social behaviour order and she accepts that was her mistake but it wasn't dealt with properly.

She says her experience of the council is not good.

"I am still in rent arrears," she says.

Emma Pearce says your followed by cameras all the time where your playing rent like Big Brother and says it is not on.

Thomas Lyon says Emma Pearce was the volunteer from Shelter who helped him and calls for more people with learned experience to be on the front line.

Ms Pearce says things have happened to her in her life which means she had to come out of the care of her mum and she had been let down by the care service.

Thomas Lyon, service user for Shelter Scotland says everything with his flat was fine until his landlord was made bankrupt.

Mr Lyon says he always paid his rent at time and then was made homeless.

Emma Pearce says she is left asking "where is my place in the world?".

She says there needs to be support within an actual family and says families must be kept together.

Ms Pearce says: "I have so much potential but there's no support."

She says the help that you need to get through homelessness is not there.

Emma Pearce says her homeless experience started when she was young and she has been through foster care.

Ms Pearce says, although she has stayed with foster families with perfect lives, she left that setting, did not get to see them and become homeless.

She says her life "spiraled out of control" because of the care that has not been provided to her.

Ms Pearce says she can see herself getting into Mr Lyon's situation with drugs and violence.

She says care plans do not get followed.

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Thomas Lyon says there should be some information on homelessness at the DWP.

Mr Lyon says: "I went to the brew and the next thing I knew I was sleeping under a bridge."

He says there should be more information out there.

Julie McCallagh, volunteer with Shelter Scotland, says she could not stay in her partner's home because of violence which is why she became homeless.

Ms McCallagh says her children's school was never taken into account when deciding where she was placed in terms of accomodation.

"This has affected my kid's lives," and schooling, she says.

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Simone Smith says she was not allowed to be on waiting list for counselling for depression because she did not have a permanent address.

Given how vulnerable homeless people are this cannot be right, she says.

Julie McCallagh says she has been moved 11 times and her 17 year old daughter is now homeless.

M McCallagh says when she split up with her partner she had to leave the house with her four daughters and she says she had no idea how to run a house.

She says she has not seen a support worker despite being promised help.

Tory MSP Alexander Stewart says the committee hears a lot about partnership working and asks if the witnesses believe this takes place.

Rhys Campbell says he has engaged with everything that he can to try and help get him out the situation he is in.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not in this situation because my life is perfect," he says.

Mr Campbell says he engages in everything he can to help his situation, including giving samples regularly.

He says this is an ongoing struggle considering what is on his doorstep.

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Rhys Campbell says drug use was why he was homeless and he says it took a "long time to get back to normal".

Mr Campbell says being stuck in direct access was the worst situation to be put in and he "had to beg on his knees to be moved from the dorms" to keep himself safe.

He says he is now in a hostel where "everything is rife and on your doorstep".

Mr Campbell says there are people coming in and out of the hostels that should not be there and they come out worse.

He says he has been in a hostel for three weeks having been told he would be there for two days. Mr Campbell says he lost his job, his family and son and fell into depression and then into drugs.

He shares emotional testimony about his route to homelessness.

Simone Smith says being care experienced she thinks there should be an allocated worker for those who are care experienced.

Ms Smith says when she presented homeless they were not really supportive and every local authority should have someone who can understand those with care experience.

Ms Rohan says social work services are extremely stretched but that there are not enough permanent accommodation options.

SNP MSP Jenny Gilruth asks about the debt Ms Rohan had and who she owed money to.

Ms Rohan says she owed money to the local government for council tax and that there is no appeal process.

She says council tax exemption would be very beneficial for young care experience individuals.

Saffron Rohan says there should be a lot more options for care experience young people.

Ms Rohan says they should get support with living costs.

She says here situation only improved when she went to college and new legislation got her some support.

Ms Rohan says she is still in debt and even young people who are lucky enough to get a tenancy don't have enough money to make it a home.

She calls for supported accommodation that is not run by housing, as they have a complete lack of understanding of the issues young care experience people face.

Tory MSP Graham Simpson asks what the witnesses think the committee and government should be doing to help individuals.

Saffron Rohan, care experience member of the life changes trust advisory group, says she was previously moved into a two bedroom flat because it was all that was available at the time.

Ms Rohan says she left school at 15 and could not go back to further education because she would lose benefits.

She says the bedroom tax meant she had to pay more for her flat and got into debt.

Ms Rohan says there are a lot of challenges for care experience individuals because they tend to come from deprived backgrounds.

She says she never left the house because she was scared, due to the area she was in, and that the government are quick to take benefits away.

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Emma Pearce gets us underway sharing her experience to help homeless people, saying she is a volunteer with Shelter Scotland.

Rhys Campbell says he has been in the homeless section for two years now and has probably been around every hostel in Dundee.

Simone Smith says she was care experience and says after she left foster care she was homeless a number of times as she could not find find a safe place for herself and her daughter.

Ms Smith is part of the life changes trust advisory group

Saffron Rohan says she has care experience and is also a member of the life changes trust advisory group

Thomas Lyon says he spent six years on the street and he says he ended up in a flat where there was a lot of violence and he was sent back there.

Image source, bbc

Labour MSP Elaine Smith is chairing this evidence session and welcomes

• Saffron Rohan
• Simone Smith
• Rhys Campbell
• Thomas Lyon
• Julie McCallagh
• Emma Pearce

This private sesssion of the Local Government and Communities Commitee is understandably taking longer than usual following the revelation about the combustible in Glasgow private high rise homes.

The evidence session on homelessness is expected to start shortly.