Homeless hostels run by Glasgow City Council are to be closed under new plans designed to provide more permanent accommodation.

The Scottish Executive is to put �47m into decommissioning the hostels over the next three years.

Officials want to find more permanent homes for the estimated 6,000 people who use the hostels each year.

We believe firmly that with proper support... that we can make an impact on this particular problem Councillor John Gray

However, critics of the plan say that many of the flats allocated are in areas which already have complex social problems.

The large number of people staying in homeless hostels in Glasgow is unique in Scotland.

Some people have lived in the hostels all their adult life.

Officials in Glasgow said that once people enter a hostel social issues, such as drug and alcohol addictions and mental health problems, can get worse until they are unable to cope with moving into a flat of their own.

It is hoped that by closing the hostels people can be rehoused straight away rather than becoming caught up in this spiral.

Some opponents said that the communities they will move into already have complex problems of their own.

Difficult exercise

And they argue that there is already too much competition for the vacant flats.

Councillor John Gray, the convenor of the council's social work committee, admitted that it would be a difficult exercise.

But he said: "We believe firmly that with proper support, and we have now got the resource coming from the Scottish Executive to help us with this, that we can make an impact on this particular problem."

Dedicated support workers "of every kind" would be able to help those who currently use the service, he added.