Highland Council has launched a scheme to reduce homelessness by putting single homeless people in temporary shared accommodation.
To date, 20 shared properties have been set up in Inverness and Ross and Cromarty housing forty people.
Councillors have been told the model has proved effective and popular.
In order to minimise the use of bed-and-breakfast type accommodation, the council has also been increasing its stock of self-contained temporary accommodation primarily for homeless households with children.
In May 2018 there were 237 suitable units, and in May this year the figure had risen to 387.
An emergency staff working group is meeting weekly to review and address the challenges that the council is currently facing in providing temporary accommodation.
Councillor Ben Thompson said: “The council is experiencing very significant pressures in relation to homelessness.
“The service is seeing increasing demand in case numbers, is faced with housing demand far exceeding available supply and has been placed under additional stress as a result of Covid-19.”
