The Scottish National Party has accused the government of failing homeless people in Edinburgh.

The SNP says that despite spending millions of pounds, there is now a critical shortage of hostel beds in the capital.

The party's social justice spokeswoman Fiona Hyslop says the money has not been properly targeted.

But the executive has retaliated by claiming the nationalists are playing politics with the plight of the homeless.

Hostel beds

Over the last three years, £16m of government money has been spent on street homeless projects all over Scotland.

Nearly £5m of that has been spent in Edinburgh.

However, the actual number of hostel beds has fallen in the last three years by almost 70 and homeless project leaders say there is a crisis.

Deputy Communities Minister Jackie Baillie said long term solutions were needed.

She added that another £20m would be spent on homeless projects in the next two years pursuing those objectives.

Victims of violence

A report published in December showed that homeless people in Scotland face some of the worst levels of abuse.

The study by the Institute for Public Policy Research found that rough sleepers were 15 times more likely to be assaulted than the rest of the population with the majority of attacks inflicted by members of the public not fellow homeless people.

In Glasgow, 72% of rough sleepers said they had suffered threatening behaviour, compared to 54% in London and 40% in Swansea.