More than £6million of public cash has been dished out to a “hellhole” homeless hotel branded “disgusting” by council chiefs. Stomach-churning revelations over standards at the Copland Hotel in Glasgow’s Govan have been exposed by a homeless man once forced to live there.
Marius Samavicius, 31, shared his investigation with the Record after previously describing how he lost all hope during his grim, two-month stay at the B&B – sleeping in a dirty, bug-infested room on a soiled bed.
The artist laid bare the huge bill Glasgow City Council paid to house the city’s homeless in the Copland and highlighted 20 recent health and safety breaches.
Marius said: “I remember when I was living in the hotel how lonely I felt. I wanted to do something to try to help others still living there so I started looking at the facts.”
Marius, who grew up in Lithuania, became homeless during Covid after moving to Glasgow from England in 2021. He was given emergency accommodation at the Copland where he says he was allocated a room “full of flies”, taking photos of the mess.
Marius was furious at what his housing benefit of more than £800 a month was being used for so he began research using Freedom of Information laws. He discovered Glasgow City Council spent £6,439,377 on emergency accommodation at the Copland between April 2010 this April.
Bills have been considerably higher in recent years, with £846,186 handed to the Copland in the last year. The overall amount paid to the Copland is likely to be higher, as bosses say they have been working with the council for more than 20 years.
Marius obtained copies of the hotel’s most recent environmental health inspections. Among 20 issues raised, the report said contractors had noted “rat activity within the rear garden area”.
Inspectors found “dirty” bedding “within a number of rooms”, a female “dirty” toilet and a vile mattress in one bedroom which was “stained in several places with what looked like blood”.
The report said there were two washing machines and one tumble drier available to clean laundry for 40 rooms and ordered a new procedure on the safe management of needles – after 12 were found in a sink overflow.
In May, inspectors said the hotel “does not provide suitable and sufficient control measures, to ensure the safety of staff and those using it”. Action was taken in relation to the recommendations and noted over two follow-up visits.
Meanwhile, a council inspection by social workers last July said of one room: “Bedding is disgusting – needs replaced. Window stuck – floor wet and spongey in places, potentially rotten floor, floor filthy.”
Another report from 2021, said communal bathrooms were “extremely unpleasant” and “very unclean”.
Marius found 543 residents stayed at the hotel longer than eight weeks between January 2012 and December 2021. The longest time a homeless person stayed at the hotel was 1146 days – more than three years.
During Covid, the council paid £1.6million to provide food to people in temporary homeless accommodation. But Marius claimed the food sent to the Copland was scarce and poor quality – forcing him to eat meat despite being a vegetarian.
Marius also found £244,000 of council cash was allocated to provide support staff to the hotel from October 2021 to this March via a homeless project. But he claims he did not meet the staff or see any benefit of this during his stay.
After leaving the Copland, Marius was housed at accommodation run by the Talbot Association, a non-profit organisation, which he said had far superior conditions for almost half the cost.
He said: “It seems that millions have been wasted on the private sector while non-profit specialised services have been left to survive on the bare minimum.
“The Copland has been getting council funding for years, which is increasing every year, yet they still cannot provide for basic care needs.
“If the owners are receiving so much money how can they have the audacity to assume that no one will hold you accountable to provide the basics? How can no one see these people are being neglected, especially when so much funding has been dedicated?”
A homeless charity previously told the Record it had already lodged multiple complaints with the city council over conditions. This week the Record revealed over 130 homeless people died in temporary accommodation in Glasgow in three years.
Glasgow City Council said it has provided more than 36,000 offers of emergency accommodation in the last three years.
It said hotel and B&B provision accounts for about 15 per cent of all emergency accommodation, with the vast majority residing in temporary furnished or supported accommodation. It added it takes all complaints seriously and had engaged with Marius and his requests.
A spokeswoman said: “We’ve committed to ending the use of hotels and B&B-type accommodation for providing emergency accommodation to homeless households. We continue to work with a range of partners to move people on from hotel accommodation.”
The Copland Hotel was approached for comment.
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