New investment to help prevent homelessness across Scotland is a further commitment towards a preventative approach to tackling one of the country’s most pressing social challenges.
The Scottish Government’s rollout of a £50million fund will support implementation of new homelessness prevention measures designed to help people stay in their homes and reduce the number reaching crisis point.
As part of the investment £1million is being made available to continue a fund that helps social landlords and third sector partners to act early to prevent tenants becoming homelessness. A further £9million will go towards continuing to mitigate the impact of the freeze to Local Housing Allowance.
This marks a renewed commitment to shifting the focus from responding to homelessness towards prevention, as councils, housing providers and public services prepare to deliver new legal duties aimed at identifying housing problems earlier and ensuring people receive support before losing their homes.
Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth visited Sanctuary Housing Association’s offices and development in Toryglen, Glasgow to mark the rollout of the funding yesterday.
Homeless Network Scotland chief executive Margaret-Ann Brünjes said: “We know the human cost of homelessness is devastating, and we also know that early action is far more effective than responding once someone has reached crisis.
“Prevention works, but only when it is targeted to communities that need it most. This funding can help build the systems and partnerships needed to identify risks earlier and provide practical support before people lose their homes. We must now maintain momentum.
“This commitment from the Scottish Government provides an important foundation for implementing the new prevention duties successfully.
“The challenge now is making sure the funding reaches frontline services quickly and is backed by the collaboration needed across housing, health, social care and other public services to make prevention a reality rather than an aspiration. We look forward to working with the Scottish Government to secure clarity on how the full fund will operate and where it will be deployed.”
One in three worried about losing their home
Scotland’s continuing housing and homelessness emergency is fuelling growing concern among the public about housing insecurity and increasing pressure on local authorities to meet demand for homelessness services.
Recent polling commissioned for the Everyone Home Collective found that more than one in three Scots are worried they could lose their home within the next few years because of pressures including the cost of living, a shortage of affordable housing, rising rents and increasing mortgage costs. Concern was highest among younger adults, highlighting the growing scale of housing insecurity.
Around 250,000 people are currently on housing waiting lists across Scotland, while more than 18,000 households – including around 10,000 children – are living in temporary accommodation.
These figures demonstrate why prevention must sit alongside long-term investment in affordable housing if Scotland is to reverse current trends.
The new funding provides an opportunity to strengthen partnerships between councils, health services, landlords and the third sector, helping to identify housing risks earlier and intervene before people are forced into homelessness.
The continuing £1million Upstream Homelessness Prevention Fund announced as part of the £50million package follows a successful one-year nationwide pilot that saw more than 600 households supported to stay in their social housing tenancies.
A report on the fund to be launched on Thursday (16 July) details how landlords used innovative approaches to prevent homelessness earlier, including through discretionary cash payments and by asking tenants about their situation informally in places like parent and toddler groups.
A key ambition of the pilot administered by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Homeless Network Scotland was to show how social landlords will deliver the new ‘Ask and Act’ prevention duties to prevent homelessness earlier and in a wider range of settings.