ONE homeless Borders family endured a wait of 700 days holed up in temporary accommodation before being provided with their own house.

And many others parents and their children in the Borders continue to face waits of months in cramped flats.

The figures, which were released under Freedom of Information, reveal that Scottish Borders Council is dealing with around two new cases of homelessness every day.

Over the past six years the local authority opened 3,826 statutory homelessness cases.

And around a third of them involve children.

A Scottish Borders Council spokesperson said: “The council has a statutory duty to assist people who are homeless.

"This often includes providing temporary accommodation until suitable permanent housing is found.

"The council works closely with its housing association partners on this and, normally, suitable permanent housing is found within six months. However, this is dependent on suitable housing becoming available to re-let.

“If the number of properties becoming available to re-let is relatively low in relation to the level of demand then that can mean that some people may have to wait longer before securing suitable permanent housing.

"In addition, if a household has particular needs in relation to, for example, accessing schools or employment, then it can take much longer to identify suitable permanent housing for them.”

A Scotland-wide initiative to reduce homelessness, called Housing Options, has led to a gradual reduction in the number of applications being made both locally and nationally.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: "From 2010 the number of homelessness applications has been falling mainly as a consequence of the development of homelessness prevention activities by councils through adopting a Housing Options approach to meeting housing need."

Despite the gradual reduction in cases, the number of people living in temporary accommodation in the Borders, as well as many other part of the country, has remained high.

Since 2011 the average wait in temporary flats and houses for people with children in the Borders has been 123 days.

And national figures show that there was a 16 per cent increase (818) in children living in temporary accommodation over the past year.

Housing charity Shelter said: *****

Figures released by Scottish Borders Council show the majority of homelessness cases opened in the past six years are down to relationship breakdowns, termination of tenancies, evictions, repossessions and other financial reasons.

A total of 169 cases involved fleeing a violent or abusive partner.

Overcrowding, welfare reforms and mobility issues were also reasons people became homeless.