INVERCLYDE Health and Social Care Partnership is creating a new senior post to meet the growing demands posed by homelessness and the resettlement of refugees.

In the last year there has been increased pressure on local services caused partly by the temporary housing at Greenock's Holiday Inn of up to 110 people seeking asylum in the UK. 

They are currently awaiting decisions by the Home Office on their long term future.

Up until now the resettlement team have cared for 152 men, women and children from Syria, 123 from Afghanistan and 243 Ukrainians, all under various schemes.

Eight Inverclyde families continue to host 16 Ukrainian nationals who fled the war-torn country.

At a recent Inverclyde Integrated Joint Board members were asked to approve a new £90,000 'service manager' post to create a single homelessness and settlement service.

Alan Best, interim head of health and community care, said: "We have seen a complex position start to grow,  whether they are located in a hotel or are awaiting a decision, or have had successful positive decision and are looking to settle here.

"Inverclyde has a long tradition of being a welcoming community, and the team has worked hard with statutory in terms of supporting people.

"It has become quite clear that the service has become interdependent on the homelessness service.

"The homelessness service itself is going through a period of redesign and awaiting the outcome of an independent review to see where our next steps will go with that.

"That service itself is a fairly busy one dealing with immediacy of homelessness and supporting folks into their own tenancies."

Latest figures show that homelessness has fallen in Inverclyde by ten per cent, with people waiting 23 weeks, well below the Scottish average of 38 weeks.

There are currently 94 individuals in temporary accommodation at the Inverclyde Centre and within the community.

In addition, 229 people are being supported to prevent homelessness and 62 are either in permanent accommodation following a period of homelessness or are at risk of homelessness.