Progress towards Scotland's landmark commitment to provide homes for all unintentionally homeless households by 2012 has picked up pace, according to figures published on Friday.

Officials statistics for this year show fourteen councils met national interim targets, compared to just one council achieving this in 2005-06.

A record 83% of homeless households are now classed as priority and therefore entitled to new homes.

A total of 19,500 homeless households got the keys to new social homes this year - a greater proportion than ever before.

Twice as many households were re-housed, than in any year during the 1990s and there has been a 50% increase on the 12,000 households given new homes in 2002-03.

Thousands of people received independent financial, legal or housing advice, help to claim benefits and assistance to use rent deposit guarantee schemes.

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While the number of households in temporary accommodation increased, the number of people in unsuitable temporary accommodation fell by over half.

Exactly 1,343 new council homes will be built in Scotland this year, backed by £26 million from the Scottish Government - the first tranche of a £50 million fund to kick-start the first major council house building programme for Scotland in a generation.

The Scottish Government is increasing the supply of affordable homes, backed by record spending of more than £1.5 billion over three years.

Grants for a record breaking 8,100 affordable homes have already been approved this year, with £644 million of investment from the Scottish Government.

Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said: "While there is still a lot of hard work to do before 2012, it is clear that we are making significant inroads to providing homes for all unintentionally homeless households in our country.

"This is a basic human right and we will redouble our efforts to maintain momentum towards helping councils who are facing the most challenges to achieve this important goal."

Councillor Harry McGuigan, COSLA's spokesperson for Community Wellbeing and Safety, added: "We recognise that tackling the issue of homelessness is more challenging for some local authorities than others because of local circumstances - but providing people with decent and affordable housing is a key priority for all councils.

"The figures clearly demonstrate local authorities' firm commitment to dealing with the issue of homelessness in Scotland with more than half of authorities exceeding their interim target."

(GK/KMcA)