Homelessness Services in Scotland
In her blog, SFHA Policy Lead Eileen McMullan looks at the Scottish Housing Regulator's recent report: Homelessness services in Scotland: A thematic review - February 2023.
By Eileen McMullan, SFHA Policy Lead
Last week the Scottish Housing Regulator published the findings of its thematic review of council homelessness services. Homelessness services in Scotland: A thematic review - February 2023 | Scottish Housing Regulator.
The key messages outlined in the report will be familiar to anyone working in housing, recognising the very challenging circumstances faced by councils and their RSL partners. The three major challenges highlighted include:
- Dealing with significant numbers of people in temporary accommodation
- Maintaining a sufficient supply of temporary accommodation; and
- ensuring access to the number of permanent homes needed
While a number of councils have had some success with rapid rehousing at the centre, others are finding it increasingly difficult to meet the challenges with evidence of increasing breaches of statutory duties around the provision of temporary accommodation. In addition the report highlights that some households with particular equality characteristics do not always receive services that meet their needs.
Context
The report acknowledges the challenging economic circumstances faced by all of us and in particular, the most vulnerable. Some of the issues in the report have also been highlighted to the Scottish Government by SFHA in partnership with a number of homelessness charities. In particular, the lack of affordable housing, increased numbers of children in temporary accommodation and the pressure on social housing providers in the context of increasing numbers of homeless people and a refugee crisis.
Our policy briefing, provided by HNS, in last week’s issue highlighted the Scottish Governments Homelessness Statistics to September 2022. These show that homelessness applications, open applications, and households in temporary accommodation have all increased and are now higher than pre-pandemic.
The Scottish Government’s Homelessness Prevention Strategy Groups aims to end homelessness in Scotland. The proposed prevention duties for public bodies may help and RSLs have a key role to play building on their track record on tenancy sustainment services and early intervention. But as the report highlights there remains a mismatch between the supply of temporary and permanent housing and demand. The regulator’s report suggests that there are actions that councils can take but asks the Scottish Government to consider what it can do to support councils and in particular ensure that there is adequate supply of suitable temporary accommodation.