Lump of concrete wedged in my throat. Heartbeat quickening. Eyes darting. Apple Watch Mindfulness reminder nagging at my wrist. Two things in life frequently fill me with instant panic: spiders and numbers. With spiders I can douse my flat in peppermint spray and convince myself they love being sucked up by the hoover. But numbers? There is no escape.

Numeracy was never my strong suit. I really need to force myself to digest numbers, reading them two or three times before they sink in. My brain desperately wants to skip over them. But occasionally a figure will leap out at my maths-loathing mind like a Jumping Spider. Yesterday it was the number 6,093. The shortfall of student beds in Scotland’s largest city according to a new report from the University of Glasgow led UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE).

The report, co-authored by the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) Scotland, University of Stirling, StudentCrowd, Edinburgh Student Housing Co-operative (ESHC) and Slurp Edinburgh (Students for Action on Homelessness) warns that thousands of students across Scotland are at risk of homelessness and unable to access the right housing. The authors identified a severe student housing crisis in cities including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee and are calling on the Scottish Government to take immediate action.

But wait a minute. Wait just a minute. I thought Glasgow needed 22,000 student beds? Isn’t that why we keep approving all of these high-end Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) blocks? Isn’t that why the local authority has agreed to let foreign developers rip up our built heritage? If I strain my ears from the office I can almost hear a Kubota digger scraping desperately against the cast iron arch of the former ABC cinema on Sauchiehall Street.

It was a report by property giant Savills from April this year that stated Glasgow had a student bed shortfall of 22,000. But this new report identifies a shortfall of 6,093 at 2022/23. My calculator tells me that is a........

© Herald Scotland