Gypsies/Travellers Accommodation
As part of their traditional lifestyle, Gypsies and Travellers may have particular accommodation needs, and local authorities are required to consider these when they prepare their local housing strategies.
Accommodation
There are currently 31 official council/registered social landlord (RSL) sites for Gypsies/Travellers in Scotland. 28 of these are open all year round and three are available during the summer only.
In 1998, the Scottish Executive (now Scottish Government) introduced a series of twice-yearly (January and July) counts of the Gypsy/Traveller population in Scotland. This was introduced to better understand the characteristics of the Gypsy/Traveller population and to assist and inform the development of public policies and services for Gypsies/Travellers, both nationally and locally.
The July 2009 count recorded a total of 684 Gypsy/Traveller households living on council or registered social landlord sites sites, private sites and unauthorised encampments in Scotland. This represents an estimated population of around 2,120 people, a small decrease from the July 2008 population of 2,455 people.