Author: lsen

Ambitious Scots programme to counter misery caused by UK immigration policy must now be scaled up

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More than 1,200 people in Scotland received vital support in the first year of an ambitious programme to end destitution caused by UK immigration policy, a new report reveals – against a backdrop of rising asylum seeker evictions and fears of the return of “lock-change” eviction tactics. Fair Way Scotland said 1,205 people excluded from state support accessed its services in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, including 730 who received casework support in an effort to regularise their immigration status and protect them from being made homeless or forced on to the streets.  

Six people were accommodated by the partnership in Glasgow with linked £50 weekly cash payments because they were excluded from all forms of public support. Sixty people in Glasgow, 291 in Edinburgh and 21 in Aberdeen accessed support and advice.

But efforts to house others – including European nationals without settled status after Brexit – will require additional independent funding available to finance accommodation, amid intense pressures on housing supply amplified by global events.

The report from Heriot-Watt University’s I-SPHERE institute, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, calls on the UK Government to overhaul their hostile immigration policies and commit to ending destitution by design. It also urges the Scottish Government to show clearer political leadership by setting out concrete plans to fully mitigate the harm these policies create.

Ministers must deliver on their commitment to helping people with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) or Restricted Eligibility (RE), as set out in the Green-SNP cooperation agreement, authors said, while praising the public sector for doing as much as possible to protect people before Fair Way Scotland launched.

The report also highlights the key role Registered Social Landlords can play in providing social housing to the partnership – citing the example of Maryhill Housing Association in Glasgow, which has already pledged ten flats, some of which are already occupied. 

Fair Way Scotland works to provide people with safe housing in community-based properties, with linked cash payments, access to legal advice and other support including a helpline. Preventing destitution helps people to regularise their immigration status and access work or statutory support where permitted.

The report’s author Beth Watts-Cobbe, Senior Research Fellow at I-SPHERE, said: “Our report shows the distance travelled in the first year of the partnership despite political and economic uncertainty, tight council budgets and high housing demand, and the priorities ahead. 

“Intolerance of rough sleeping and destitution is a marker of a civilised society. The UK and Scottish Governments will rightly be judged on taking the harms experienced by those with No Recourse to Public Funds or welfare support seriously.”

Deborah Hay, Senior Policy Advisor (Scotland) at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Destitution should never be a tool of public policy. Yet, the UK Government is doing just that by locking people out of essential support, inflicting needless misery on thousands of people who want to make Scotland their home.

“Fair Way partners have demonstrated that ending destitution in Scotland is possible, despite the challenges. Scaling up Fair Way is now critical given rising demand for help, but mitigation programmes like this shouldn’t be necessary. The UK Government must commit to an urgent change of course and end destitution by design.”  

Sabir Zazai, CEO of Scottish Refugee Council, said: “Safe housing and legal advice is more important than ever as the UK Government continues to pursue hostile policies and deny people their basic human rights.

“As we see a deeply concerning rise in people seeking protection being evicted from their homes, this report highlights some of the proactive ways people at risk of homelessness can be supported.”

Publication of the evaluation comes after a reported sharp rise in eviction cases going through Glasgow Sheriff Court brought by Home Office accommodation provider Mears Housing.

It follows a Home Office decision to shorten the eviction process for people seeking asylum in dispersal accommodation, raising concerns among campaigners that lock-change evictions previously used by Serco could resume. Serco’s policy between 2012 and 2019 meant locks on people’s homes could be changed without notice if they were no longer eligible for asylum support, effectively forcing them into immediate street homelessness.

13 new HNS Associates join drive to end homelessness  

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Homeless Network Scotland has welcomed 13 new Associates from across Scotland who will use their personal experience and insight to combat homelessness – significantly bolstering the team.  

The new recruits will join eight Associates working on the nationwide All in for Change programme and the Glasgow Homelessness Involvement and Feedback Team (GHIFT). 

At a series of training sessions in August and September the latest additions have been getting to know their new colleagues and finding out more about their roles and the impact they could have. 

New members shared their feelings about joining the team, with one stating simply: “Let’s work to end homelessness”.  

Among the other messages were “I am excited to work for HNS, creating change for individuals and society. A heartfelt organisation wanting the best for all!” 

Other Associates told of their hope that they would be “involved in making homelessness a less traumatic, frustrating experience” and being able to “push for change”. 

Homeless Network Scotland’s Associate programme provides a platform for people whose life and professional experiences give them invaluable on-the-ground knowledge of homelessness. 

The paid team members get a chance to learn more about and influence policies and practices, connect with politicians, policy and decision makers, and act to achieve change. 

Associates are perfectly placed to find better solutions and highlight what is working and is not, while using their role to build a network of contacts and gain valuable new skills and knowledge. 

All in for Change is an informal and inclusive umbrella group that brings people together to help end homelessness by gathering and sharing information as well as hosting events and roadshows.  

The programme is built on four directions – taking a people-centred approach, ending siloed services, pushing for rapid access to good housing, and fostering a positive, compassionate outlook. 

Change Team members have personal or frontline experience of homelessness and provide briefings covering priority areas such as health and wellbeing and poverty and social justice. The team is represented on the Scottish Government Homelessness Prevention Strategy Group (HPSG).  

GHIFT members who have experienced homelessness lead on changes taking place across services across Glasgow. Members host meetings, events and workshops for people with current or recent experience of homelessness and work with decision makers to ensure their voices are represented. 

“We are delighted to welcome 13 more Associates to Homeless Network Scotland and can already see how their diverse experiences and insights will build on the positive influence the team wields. 

Associates have the opportunity to speak truth to power as a critical friend to policymakers and to help anyone experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Their collective, expert voice guides everyone working towards the achievable goal of preventing and ending homelessness in Scotland.” 

David Ramsay, Impact Lead

Homeless Network Scotland statement on the disbanding of the Glasgow Alliance to End Homelessness

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Homeless Network Scotland is saddened to learn Glasgow Alliance to End Homelessness has disbanded. This is a painful time for colleagues who have worked so hard and with such ambition to end homelessness in the city and change the story around homelessness.

The Alliance and Glasgow City Health & Social Care Partnership can stand tall having tested a truly collective approach that put people who have been homeless at the centre of decision making. Acknowledging the impossible challenges wrought by the pandemic and taking this difficult decision is equally courageous. The learning must be reviewed and shared so that progress can be made.

This is a hard knock for members of GHIFT, the platform for people with lived experience of homelessness who are supported by Homeless Network Scotland. They have put their heart and soul into exploring ambitious new ways to deliver services and achieve systemic change, driven by their invaluable first-hand insight.

But GHIFT will continue to inform and influence the Health & Social Care Partnership’s homeless strategy and delivery. Homeless Network Scotland will continue to provide strategic partnership and support to both bodies and create opportunities for everyone in the third sector to work together in tackling homelessness.

We will build on the knowledge and connections that flourished through the Alliance to pursue our shared ambitions. There is still much work to be done to end homelessness in Glasgow and Scotland – in the face of the cost of living crisis and rising homelessness this has never been more important.


Martin and Mark from GHIFT reflect on being part of the Alliance. Read their blog here. [pdf]

Welcome to the Learning Lounge

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Find out what training and learning opportunities are coming up

We Are All In offers learning and development services to those working in and around housing and homelessness – all informed by lived experience and the latest policy and evidence. In our Learning Lounge select from popular courses that are updated regularly. While our Sounding Board offers consultancy services to help progress your priorities.

Upcoming Courses:

  • Closer to home: a place-based approach to preventing homelessness >>
  • Rough guide to homelessness policy & legislation in Scotland >>
  • The unequal risk: equality in housing and homelessness >>
Download a Brochure

The Housing Minister meets All in for Change

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Members of All in for Change were delighted to be invited to meet new Housing Minister Paul McLennan this month. Having built positive working relationships with his predecessors, the team were clear that this was to be the first of many conversations, and focused on building a relationship that would have impact.

To bring the Minister up to speed on the work of All in for Change, the team shared the key messages from the last national roadshow, ‘Taking the Temperature’. The team informed the Minister that people are seeing progress, despite increasing pressure on the system due to housing challenges, covid recovery and the cost of living crisis.

The team had four asks to close the implementation gap between our progressive homelessness policy and the reality of homelessness services on the ground:

  1. Put people first by ensuring services are person-led, designed to meet the needs of people who are accessing support rather than designed to meet the needs of the systems or the organisations that work in the system.
  2. Less competitive tendering with a shift towards ethical commissioning models that encourage partnership between services. Longer funding cycles will allow longer contracts, more stability for practitioners and better relationships with the people they support.
  3. Better, fairer housing with more innovative approaches to increase the supply of good quality social housing and to create real choice in where people can live and build a good life. This would alleviate the pressure on temporary accommodation, meaning fewer transitions for people and a faster resolution to their experience of homelessness.
  4. Support for frontline workers because to provide quality services we need practitioners who are supported and empowered. This includes paying good wages, providing training, encouraging reflective practice, making people feel part of a team. More investment in staff wellbeing, keeping caseloads low to prevent burnout.

The Minister welcomed these messages “from the ground” and encouraged the team to continue bringing life to these issues through their personal and professional testimony. It was clear from the very beginning that the Minister shares the same values as the Change Team, he wants to understand what’s happening in reality as well as in policy and legislation. The Change Team are the perfect mechanism for this information to flow from communities back to the Minister, which is an exciting opportunity for both parties.

Going forward, the Change Team have highlighted four areas of focus and shared these with the Minister to get his take:

  • Homelessness prevention as a focus given the new prevention duties on public bodies to Ask & Act, and how those without a duty can strengthen efforts to prevent homelessness closer to home, in communities.
  • The team want to focus energy on influencing across the country to improve the quality and reduce the scale and use of temporary accommodation in Scotland.
  • In order to reduce the use of temporary accommodation we need increased housing supply, particularly in areas where there is significant housing pressure.
  • And encompassing all of the above, the team will be focusing on the No Wrong Door concept, advocating for stronger coordinated working between different services, with clearer pathways for those most at risk and no one turned away.

It seems that All in for Change and the Housing Minister are very much on the same page, with Minister McLennan sharing details of his future plans, including setting up a cross-ministerial oversight group which will be a strong catalyst for creating a system with no wrong door.

If the aim going into this meeting was to begin a positive relationship, the number of smiling faces at the end of the meeting would indicate a success! The Minister has asked to come back to All in for Change in a few weeks time to continue pushing forward towards the reality set out in the Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan.

Watch this space.