Author: Janice Higgins

Members of Scotland’s new team to tackle homelessness and its causes updated the Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, Kevin Stewart MSP, this week on their work so far, signalling the beginning of the end for traditional responses to homelessness in Scotland.

Titled All In For Change, the team puts lived experience at the heart of change by bringing together people with frontline responsibilities and people with their own, personal experience of homelessness either currently or in the past. It will support thinking and action around the Scottish Government’s ambitious Ending Homelessness Together  Plan.

All in for Change, which launched in December (2019) is being led by Homeless Network Scotland, Cyrenians and Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC).

At the meeting of the Homelessness Prevention Strategy Group on Tuesday, group members representing charities, local and national government and housing providers received a detailed situation report, that included a menu of seven key messages:

1. People are seeing change at the margins, but traditional systems are still causing stress and anxiety
   This means that we are starting to see changes happen on the ground, but this has definitely not yet reached tipping point. Old language and old systems are still alive and still being challenged every day.
2. Until the new systems are fully up and running
   advocacy can really help people to navigate the old system. This means that some people can get through the complex homelessness system more easily with the support of someone else. This can take many different forms – legal advocacy, independent advocacy as well as informal or peer advocacy. Advocacy should be easier to access in all areas.
3. Housing First works when services are properly linked in
   This means that people need access to local public services when they need them and to feel part of a safe and strong community to build and live their lives. Everyone needs to get behind Housing First services to help make these links happen on the ground.
4. Positive “people, places and things” are vital for all of us
   This means that people need something good to focus on and replace harmful or negative routines as they move on from an experience of homelessness.
5. Focus on building lives as well as finding homes
   This means not limiting people and always focusing on people’s strengths and aspirations for the life and connections they want to have.
6. Homelessness is a 24/7 issue, with a 9-5 response
   This means that people experiencing homelessness often cannot access services when they need them, especially after 5pm or at the weekend. Can local areas look more closely at this?
7. We can make better use of recovery communities and preventative local policies
   This means that we want to see community-based recovery and addictions services moving closer together and sharing best practice. And more preventative policy across education, health, justice and housing to prevent people reaching a point of crisis.

Importantly, the work of the Change Team is not just about identifying what is getting in the way of change, but about proposing – and implementing – the solutions.

Michelle Major, Change Lead with Homeless Network Scotland, said: “It’s been a busy few months, with three Change Team events taking place at a central location in Scotland to make it as easy as possible for team members to travel from around the country. This project is bringing people together – to work together – who have traditionally been separated by a desk, or even a glass screen.

“Collectively, the Change Team understands the reality of homelessness in a unique way – from the viewpoints of both service providers and people who need to access homelessness services. That has not been done before at this scale and it’s been an amazing experience to witness the energy and solutions generated so far through combining these unique perspectives in a single team.”

The 30 people making up the Change Team were selected from more than 70 who applied and are now represented on the national strategy group on homelessness, co chaired by Housing Minister Kevin Stewart MSP and Councillor Elena Whitham. It will build a network of those living and working with homelessness to influence policy and strategy at local and national levels – and to help turn that into real change on the ground.

You can read the Change Team’s first report and story so far here (PDF).

Communication from Scottish Government Homeless Team, 12 March 2020

Over the past week the Scottish Government Homelessness Team has been working with teams across Government, considering our business continuity plans, building on existing work for pandemic flu in preparedness for an outbreak of the Coronavirus COVID 19.  In the same vein, I know many of you will already be considering the impact this may have on your organisation and the people you support.  Scottish Ministers are very keen to make sure we are all collectively doing as much as we can to ensure we have plans in place to protect staff, homeless people, including those who are particularly vulnerable, such as rough sleepers, those residing in temporary accommodation and those involved in street begging. As I’m sure you can appreciate, the Covid-19 situation is constantly evolving and while we know we do not have all the answers right now, we will be working to develop policy and practice in the coming days and weeks. Rest assured we will continue to share advice and best practice whenever we have it.

First and foremost, the main source of medical advice remains the NHS Inform website. The most useful source of information contained there from our perspective is the Guidance for Non-Healthcare Settings https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/covid-19-guidance-for-non-healthcare-settings/  .

Building on that, Healthcare Protection Scotland (HPS) is able to provide further guidance to help develop policy and practice and in our business continuity planning.

• With regard to cleanliness, washing hands is the most effective way to prevent spread and should always be the first priority for staff and service users. Hand gel can be used as an alternative where handwashing isn’t possible but for rough sleepers in particular, if hands are dirty then hand gel will be less effective.

• When business continuity planning the best way to develop plans is to think of the different environments the homeless population is housed in. We’d suggest looking at these different settings and making sure plans are in place for each:
  • Rough sleepers who are interacting with street teams and frontline non-accommodation services.
  • Congregate accommodation where people are sharing rooms e.g. – rapid access accommodation
  • Congregate accommodation where households aren’t sharing rooms e.g. shared accommodation
  • Temporary furnished flats

• If someone feels they may be infected, the key thing to do is to call their GP or 111 if they don’t have one who will offer advice to the individual.

• If there is a confirmed case, particularly in congregate accommodation, you should liaise with the local health protection team. (Contact details can be found at annex 2 , page 8 in the attached link https://hpspubsrepo.blob.core.windows.net/hps-website/nss/2935/documents/1_covid-19-guidance-for-hpt.pdf )

• In the event of a suspected or confirmed case, the key is social distancing, so where possible, keep someone isolated in a room and minimise interactions with other people in the same facility. Depending on the severity, that individual may be taken to hospital.

• On a practical level, this should allow, where possible, for people to have access to a separate supply of things they will need like soap, handtowels, eating and cooking utensils.

We’re sure many of you will have also seen the following guidance around homelessness and rough sleeping and COVID-19 which has been produced by Homeless Link in England. https://www.homeless.org.uk/connect/blogs/2020/mar/05/covid-19-coronavirus-outbreak

We have been in close contact with local authorities through the housing options hubs and frontline outreach services across Scotland to understand their responses and to ensure they properly communicate their plans to each other as part of the wider, multi-agency local authority response. We are continuingly stressing the importance of the provision of handwashing facilities, paper tissues and the ability to dispose of them quickly within services.

We appreciate this only provides a starting point and we will be looking to develop this in the days ahead to provide more comprehensive advice. In the meantime, it would be really helpful if you were able to keep asking questions. We can’t promise to have an answer for everything but by doing so it will help us provide the best advice we can to you.