Author: Janice Higgins

New Board Members for Trustees’ Week

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Homeless Network Scotland has welcomed five new Directors to its Board.

The new appointments strengthen the Board to 14. Maggie Brünjes, Chief executive at Homeless Network Scotland, said:

“A warm welcome our new Board Members, who bring a fresh perspective and new set of skills and experience to the organisation at a critical time for homelessness policy and services in Scotland. I want to thank those board members who stood down this year for their support and advice during their term. We look forward to welcoming our new directors to the next Board meeting in December.”

The new Board Members are:

Jackie Erdman, Individual Member, recently retired Head of Equality & Human Rights and Corporate Inequalities Manager, NHSGGC, said:

“I have supported the work of Homeless Network Scotland for many years and their objective to even the playing field for people with the toughest experiences of homelessness. Their recent conference, which had a public health theme, reinforced what we already know. Heath, wellbeing and homelessness are so inter-linked that closer working between different sectors and professional disciplines is essential to improve overall outcomes for people in Scotland.”

New Board Member, Ashleigh Simpson, Head of Policy and Communications at Crisis Scotland, said:

“I’ve been inspired by Homeless Network Scotland’s collaborative approach and their commitment to ensuring that people with lived experience are at the heart of change. I’m pleased to join their board and to work with them to prevent and end homelessness in Scotland for good.”

You can view the full Board of Directors for Homeless Network Scotland here.

RRTPs and HARSAG 2020. What now? A short guide for local authorities

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Homeless Network Scotland and Crisis Scotland, working with local authority and Scottish Government colleagues, have prepared a short guide on what the HARSAG recommendations mean for Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans going forward.

The guide is intended to assist local authority leaders to transfer policy and practice recommendations from the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) into local Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans (RRTPs) and factored into local delivery. It aims to do this by:

• streamlining themes and priorities
• clarifying the implications for RRTPs
• highlighting roles and responsibilities of partners

Councillor Elena Whitham, COSLA Community Wellbeing Spokesperson said:

“Local Government is committed to working with partners to end homelessness, and this short guide is intended to support the transfer of the national recommendations and policy into local delivery. We know that although we have all experienced the pandemic, its effects and impacts have not been the same across the country, however significant challenges exist for all. I hope this guide, which has been developed by Crisis and Homeless Network Scotland with support from local authority officers and Scottish Government, provides useful assistance in our shared ambition of ending homelessness in Scotland.”

You can view the RRTPs and HARSAG Guide for Local Authorities here.

There is also a 10-minute briefing here that summarises over 100 recommendations and what they mean for RRTPs (sound on!).

No ‘let-up’ in Covid response

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“The winter months ahead could have a devastating impact on people who don’t have a home, we must get this right.”
Maggie Brunjes – Chief executive, Homeless Network Scotland

Charity and academic sector leaders will use this year’s Scottish homelessness conference from Tuesday 20 to Thursday 22 October to urge people and organisations in Scotland that are concerned about homelessness to keep up the pace as winter approaches.

A rapid response from the sector and government in March focused on getting people inside. The online event titled Safe As Houses will explore what is needed to build on that success and continue progress made before the pandemic so that homelessness services – and the people directly affected – are not left carrying the can for a global health pandemic.

Homeless Network Scotland organises the annual event, which this year offers delegates a choice of seminars and interactive online sessions, with more than 300 booked to attend. Event partners for the 2020 conference are Bethany Christian Trust and The Salvation Army.

The Scottish Government’s updated Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan published earlier this month, is the backdrop to one of the cornerstone sessions at the conference on Wednesday, an interactive Q&A with Kevin Stewart MSP, Scotland’s Minister for Local Government, Housing & Planning.   

Maggie Brünjes, Chief executive of Homeless Network Scotland, said:

“Few of us will emerge from this pandemic unaffected by it, but not everyone is in the same boat. The pandemic has laid bare the inequality and unfairness at the root of homelessness. How can you stay at home if you don’t have one, and how can you remain safe at home if that home isn’t safe?”

“This is the first opportunity since the start of restrictions for all those concerned about homelessness in Scotland to connect on this scale. We want to highlight the extraordinary efforts of individuals and organisations during the first stage of the pandemic, from those experiencing homelessness who faced added uncertainty on top of an already stressful situation, to colleagues on the frontline walking alongside people during the crisis. Plus the many, many people behind the scenes shifting focus and financial support to where it was needed.

“Now, almost eight months in, there must be no let-up in the pace needed to get everyone home. There is no good time to be homeless, but the winter months ahead could have a devastating impact on people who don’t have a home – we must get this right.”

The  Safe as Houses conference is built around five themes.

  1. A global pandemic: drawing out international learning and comparisons on responses to homelessness.
  2. Whatever the problem, the answer is relationships: exploring the role of relationships as the lynchpin for professional and personal wellbeing.
  3. A day in the sun for good law and policy: building from recent successes to ensure it is upheld on the ground every time and for every person.
  4. Same storm, different boat: redressing the unfairness at the root of homelessness and the impact of the pandemic and its aftermath.
  5. If we don’t all row, the boat won’t go getting alongside each other – in all our different roles – to make a collective impact on homelessness.

Lydia Stazen, Director of the Institute of Global Homelessness in Chicago, is taking part in one of the first sessions on Tuesday morning titled ‘What Just Happened?’, which also includes panel members from India and Holland for a global perspective.

Lydia Stazen said: “The past six months have accelerated global efforts to end homelessness and taught us so much about what works – and what doesn’t. Safe as Houses provides a platform to adapt and tailor those lessons for Scotland.”

Sir Andrew Cubie, Chair of Scotland’s Housing First Advisory Group, will chair a political discussion on Wednesday afternoon titled, ‘Taking the ‘P’ Out of Homelessness’. Ahead of the Scottish Parliament Elections in May this seminar will debate how to take the politics out of homelessness in Scotland, with all five political parties at Holyrood invited.

Sir Andrew Cubiesaid: “In this most difficult year, and as we approach a winter of acute concern, I welcome the opportunity of gathering folk together again who are dedicated to bringing homelessness, as we know it, to an end.”

Pat McArdle, CEO of Mayday Trust, joins the conference for a session as part of theme two, ‘Whatever the problem, the answer is relationships’. This theme will explore the role of social connectedness as the lynchpin for personal and professional wellbeing, and why ‘kindness’ is returning to the language of support, with a stronger focus on fixing the big problems like access to money and housing.

Pat McArdle said: “I am genuinely delighted to be part of this conference with all the key stakeholders in the room bravely discussing the real-world issues raised by people themselves who are going through the toughest of times.”

Booking is essential, reserve a place at Scotland’s annual homelessness conference and set up a profile ahead of the event to join on Tuesday 20 October 2020 from 10am.

19 charities call for ‘triple-lock’ to end rough sleeping after COVID-19

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Nineteen influential charity sector organisations working to end homelessness presented a joint plan to the Scottish Government based around three key asks that experts and academics believe could permanently end rough sleeping and destitution in Scotland as the country emerges from the pandemic.

The Collective, named Everyone Home, includes many household names and respected organisations working to end homelessness in all parts of the country. Together, they have agreed a ‘triple-lock’ of measures to protect the progress that has been made and underpin next steps.

Patrick McKay, Chair of Homeless Network Scotland and Operations Director, Turning Point Scotland said: “The majority of people and organisations in Scotland that care about homelessness agree that the Scottish Government’s Ending Homelessness Together Plan is the right approach, and we were making progress. However, the onset of this pandemic demanded a rapid response to keep people safe. Since March we have managed to accommodate and support all those who wanted to be indoors, including people with no recourse to public funds such as people seeking asylum in Scotland. Throughout, local and national government, charities, health and housing associations have worked together.

“It is now imperative to secure that progress. The pandemic will have a disproportionate impact on people who experience all types of disadvantage, potentially driving up homelessness. By implementing the measures outlined in this plan, Scotland has a unique window to end rough sleeping and mitigate the impact of all forms of homelessness.”

To help set out a way forward in local and national efforts to tackle homelessness now and in the future the 19 organisations involved in the Collective have agreed priorities and set out a range of approaches summarised as:

 prioritise prevention, create as much housing capacity as we can now and make a long-term commitment to increase the supply of homes for social rent
 permanently prevent a return to previous levels of rough sleeping in all areas
 no evictions into homelessness, the end of avoidable evictions and the threat of illegal evictions.

The Collective will also present a framework for offering support and guidance to local authorities, private landlords, tenants, housing associations as well as a framework to support rapid scaling of Housing First across all areas in Scotland. This will provide learning, guidance and tools for quality assurance, support and cost implications. The 19 organisations that are members of the Collective will continue to develop and refine plans for ensuring an effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic as restrictions are lifted.

You can read our joint-plan and support our urgent efforts to get everyone home at www.everyonehome.scot

Join in on social media at #EveryoneHome

Housing First Annual Check-Up Published

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Homeless Network Scotland have published the first annual check-up report on Scotland’s Housing First Pathfinder. Martin Gavin, Head of External Relations, picks out the key points.

Reaching the first birthday of the Pathfinder designed to scale up Housing First across six local authority areas in five partnerships, is an important milestone. With 252 tenancies created the programme is being watched with interest from other parts of the British Isles, as well as Europe, the USA and Australia. Scotland is widely, and rightly, viewed as a leader in implementing Housing First.

In Finland, the Housing First model has contributed to the only downward homelessness rate in Europe, with little or no rough sleeping in their capital city. Juha Kaakinen, CEO of Finland’s Y-Foundation, would have been the keynote speaker at this year’s conference. Instead Juha will join us for a webinar today at 2pm, taking questions and talking about their experiences. Commenting on Scotland’s progress in our first annual Housing First Check Up report, published today, Juha says: “In this work we need beacons of hope like the Pathfinder. The work done in Scotland to upscale Housing First is an inspirational example for many countries.”

The moment that is captured in this quote is built on a solid foundation laid by those innovators who have been sizing up the potential of Housing First for more than a decade in Scotland and supporting tenants to build and live their lives in those intervening years. 

The knowledge that people were spending too much time in temporary accommodation has prompted a focus on rapid rehousing leading to all councils submitting Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans to the Scottish Government. With Housing First sitting as part of this wider approach the focus of the Pathfinder is to challenge and change our current processes in the short and long term, creating new approaches and gradually leaving behind the old; a process of transition that Pathfinders continue press ahead with during the current crisis.

Housing First is still working thanks to the incredible dedication and expertise of support providers up and down the country. And not only in the Pathfinder consortia, also in those council areas testing and operating their own local schemes.

The substantial international evidence behind Housing First points to a tenancy sustainment rate of 80-90%. Tenancy sustainment here has stayed above 90% for the full programme so far. Today’s Housing First Check Up Report also reveals that Edinburgh (98%) and Glasgow (92%) report the highest levels of local tenancy sustainment. A quarter of tenants have now been in their own home for more than a year (58) and 21 people have been at home for more than 18 months.

The time it takes to get someone into a home is also falling. Stirling (-64%) and Aberdeen/shire (-56%) saw the largest reductions of the Pathfinder areas, with Aberdeen/shire showing excellent progress in achieving the 28-day target, with 39% of people moving into their homes within one month. In Dundee we see a steady, sustained increase in new tenancies starting over the period of the report, along with a 41% fall in repeat homelessness.

The report also tells us where challenges exist. In the past year, four people have returned to homelessness, each person will have their own story and we want to understand them all. Sadly, eight tenants have died, with long-term prison sentences accounting for a further six ended tenancies. For the majority of our tenants, underlying health conditions and often a lifetime of multiple severe disadvantage means the odds are stacked against them. This makes the achievement of the 92% (as of March 2020) that remain in their own homes, supported by amazing staff, even more remarkable.

The Pathfinder is also helping us to better understand the impact that scaling up across Scotland will have on this success rate, with all 32 local authorities soon rolling out locally focused Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans. The approach must work for 500 as well as it does for 50.