Official homeless data for the six month period to September 2021 was released by the Scottish Government today.
The over reliance on temporary accommodation is the bane of all efforts to end homelessness in Scotland. The pandemic forced a record high which is now creeping back up again. More at https://gov.scot/publications/homelessness-scotland-update-30-september-2021/pages/1/
Housing Options Scotland has joined the Everyone Home, making 36 organisations in the collective. In 2022 Housing Options Scotland is celebrating 25 years of providing housing information, support and advice across Scotland. Moira Bayne, CEO of Housing Option Scotland, said: “We are delighted to join the Everyone Home collective alongside many other brilliant organisations all working to end homelessness in Scotland.”
Through their Homeless Housing Options service the team have supported more than 150 clients who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, with advice. The vast majority make up the hidden homeless population in Scotland – not roofless but trapped in inaccessible housing or sofa surfing with friends and family. Housing Options Scotland aims to work with partners in the sector to share the perspectives of their clients and work collaboratively to find solutions for them.
Moira added: “We hope that by joining this broad-reaching coalition, together, we will be able to make inroads in ending all forms of homelessness in Scotland, for all different people.”
Moira Bayne has been CEO at Housing Options Scotland since 2008 and sits on the board of Homeless Network Scotland and Abbeyfield Scotland. Previously, she has been a board member with Veterans Scotland and ACOSVO. For more information about the range of people supported by Housing Options Scotland please visit their website here.
by Martin Gavin
Have you ever watched someone struggle to push a car that’s broken down, edging forward an inch at a time trying to get the vehicle to the side of the road? Then someone else begins to push, followed by another couple of helpful passers-by and quickly the vehicle is rolling forward.
Everyone Home collective came together in May 2020 in response to the pandemic with a few people who knew one another. Membership is now 37 organisations and individuals, all pushing in the same direction. At the time it provided momentum and mutual support in response to a crisis and was a space for senior leaders in the homelessness sector and leading academics in the field to focus on the issues amid the intense noise of the initial reaction to Covid.
More than 18 months later, the Everyone Home collective has set out priorities for tackling the biggest issues in homelessness coming up, with a ‘Platform for Change 2022’. It builds on successful measures to address homelessness during the pandemic and consolidates the ‘Ask About Housing’ message developed last year, aimed at anyone who comes into regular contact with individuals and families, from GPs and teachers to neighbours or friends.
For me, being involved in the Everyone Home collective has been inspiring and sometimes surprising. Witnessing the impact and sustainable change that has come about through genuine collaboration is refreshing – it’s a lively, friendly and challenging environment where some of the biggest and smallest teams work collectively, along with individual members, with scale and specialism valued equally.
Over the summer in 2020, as we all tried to make sense of how the first global pandemic in a century would affect our own objectives and goals, it was clear that no one organisation could ensure homelessness remained high on the agenda of local and national government with competing and urgent priorities vying for resources and attention.
The collective’s first move was to identify three urgent priorities. These are: more homes for good health; no return to rough sleeping; no evictions into homelessness. The collective now meets less frequently but still regularly – providing a platform to Scottish Government, local authorities and housing associations to implement shared priorities to end homelessness.
These measures remain central to ending homelessness for good and still underpin the platform for change in 2022 – setting out what works and what matters along with the change that’s needed over the coming 12 months and the specific role that the Everyone Home collective will contribute. Among the measures are:
‘Ask About Housing’ professional and public perceptions programme to support implementation of new duties to prevent homelessness
commissioning expert support to scope the potential of high-value social investment to increase housing supply in targeted areas
a route-map on a role for the private rented sector to increase housing capacity and options to prevent and respond to homelessness
securing a strategic funding partnership to mobilise Fair Way Scotland and bring about an end to destitution among people with no recourse to public funds.
We have all benefitted as individuals and organisations from being part of Everyone Home and I’ve learned a lot about what real collaboration looks like. Out of adversity, we’ve seen huge strides forward in dealing with the systemic issues that lead to homelessness. For me, the collective captures the soul of this sector perfectly.
A 7-city guide to frontline homelessness services open over the holiday period, including places providing meals and company on Christmas day. Click here
Peter Anderson is Training Lead at Homeless Network Scotland, and a well know figure in the sector for his work on addiction, Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) and for delivering top quality training throughout Scotland. Peter retires in December after more than 30 years working in homelessness and related fields. We wish Peter lots of happiness in his retirement and a huge thanks for his work with Homeless Network Scotland.
Below are Peter’s thoughts on how we can all ensure our work is making a difference.
Working for Homeless Network Scotland I was often asked, “We all know the work you do, but what defines you?” As this is an agile, responsive organisation, our work wide reaching and influencing to help end homelessness in Scotland, it can be a challenge to pin that down. Travelling to work on the bus I was reflecting on our role as an assay of knowledge, research and solutions to homelessness when, from the small circle I had cleared in the steamed-up bus window, I saw a poster for a new exhibition in the National Museum of Scotland.
The Galloway Hoard comprises around 100 gold and silver objects from the Viking Age discovered in 2014. Found by a metal detectorist it has been described as, ‘one of the most significant Viking hoards ever found in Scotland’. When excavated it was found to be a varied collection of jewellery from the Viking world, Anglo-Saxon England and elsewhere in Europe dating to the mid-9th or -10th-Century.
The hoard consists of a variety of gold and silver objects including armbands, a Christian cross, brooches, ingots and what is possibly the largest silver Carolingian pot ever discovered. Of course a visit was planned. Among the wonderful exhibits the guides stopped alongside was a large gold decorated pendant, within this frame nested a strange, perfectly shaped piece of black schist. The guides explained schist is common and would not be accorded the status of a gemstone save for its function as a “Touchstone”.
The guide explained the meaning, which was confirmed when a clasp on the pendant released the schist and subsequent analysis of the stone showed traces of gold and other precious metals, a touchstone therefore was used to assay precious metal – gold being malleable leaves a streak on the schist and the greater the streak the purer the gold.
Later online I gazed at the touchstone, not just at its beauty but the ingenuity of our ancestors. What is the equivalent of Touchstones in what we do, whether policy driven or front-line? How do we assay whether our work is 24 Carat or base metal? Too often we see reports on what people have done, how they do it and why, but often no mention of the impact; what has changed as a result?
Applying virtual touchstones to our work at Homeless Network Scotland has helped identify what works and what matters, while measuring the quality of the outcomes for people. We produce regular Impact reports capturing activity and outcomes and everyone can introduce Touchstones into their work triggered by changes in performance, complaints, a ceiling on evictions for example leading to quick assessments and effective action.
Touchstones at higher levels, front line, long term, and short-term can assay and illuminate our work and help us keep on a true north. Lessons from a visit back in time 1000 years, and an exhibition we should all see to help put recent events into perspective.