More than 70 colleagues joined a Homeless Network Scotland online event that explored the action we need to get out of the housing emergency while ensuring people’s rights are met and best housing outcomes are achieved today and in the long term.
Attendees and contributors from across councils, homelessness, housing, lived experience and academia lent their expertise and insight to Staying the Course in a Perfect Storm: Prioritising homelessness in a housing emergency.
They were asked to consider: What do we need to Defend, Direct and Divert to ensure we have the right systems, resources and values that will drive the best housing and support outcomes for people in Scotland now, while paving the way to a better long-term future?
Put another way, what do we protect, where do we bring clarity, and what do we need to do less of? And in what order?
As a jumping off point, we used the ‘Defend, Direct, Divert’ route-map created collaboratively by 250 attendees at last year’s annual homelessness conference (find it here, with a conference report). We need to defend the culture change that’s been achieved in homelessness over recent decades, with progressive rights and a solid plan for moving people on from temporary accommodation and into settled homes quickly.
We need to direct and influence each other on how to make rapid rehousing a reality, how to increase housing supply, improve prevention and achieve the outcomes in the Ending Homelessness Together plan. And we need to divert time, money and effort towards doing more of what works and away from falling back on the failed solutions of the past.
Read more on the event and some of the key takeaways we heard in a short event report.
The Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) is hosting a seminar to present new research on the relationship between violence against women and homelessness.
Research Fellow Dr Lynne McMordie will draw on recent qualitative research in Northern Ireland that illustrates how abuse by intimate partners, family members, and strangers can lead to both acute and chronic housing insecurity.
Many women reported being forced from their homes – sometimes fleeing multiple times – even when they held legal tenancy or ownership rights. Systemic failures, including inconsistent police responses, inaccessible or weakly enforced protection orders, and exposure to further violence within homelessness services, further entrenched these cycles of violence and homelessness.
The seminar will take place online on March 26, 2025 from 11:00am-12:15 pm.
Delegates at Scotland’s annual homelessness conference on 29 and 30 October will be tasked with creating a route-map out of the housing and homelessness emergency.
The focus of Right Here, Right Now is what action taken now can ease the escalating crisis and what needs to happen next to create a better long-term future. Insight will be gathered through sessions and debates hooked on four urgent themes – Housing Supply, Supporting People, Rights and Duties, and Prevention.
Keynote guests at the event at Perth Concert Hall, delivered in partnership with The Salvation Army, include TV presenter, mental health advocate and motivational speaker Gail Porter, who has experienced homelessness.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan will address conference and be quizzed on stage by members of the All in For Change team who have lived experience of homelessness.
And in another must-see set piece, Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, will interview Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
This year’s conference is the first since the Scottish Government declared a national housing emergency. Twelve local authorities have declared their own emergencies.
And it comes weeks after annual homelessness statistics released by the Scottish Government revealed rising homelessness applications, rough sleeping, and more than 10,000 children now living in temporary accommodation.
Sessions and debates over the 2 days cover issues including the housing emergency, the impact of hostile UK immigration policy in Scotland, making wider prevention duties in the Housing Bill work, and how to support increasingly pressurised frontline staff.
Helen Murdoch, Assistant Director Strategic Operations and Development (Scotland), with The Salvation Army, said: “The Salvation Army is proud to support this year’s conference, helping to ensure Scotland’s third sector continues to speak with a collective voice on the big issues connected to homelessness.
“In harnessing our collective will, we narrow the gap between great policy and what people are seeing and experiencing. The recent homelessness statistics provide added focus and a sense of urgency. Every 16 minutes in Scotland, someone becomes homeless.
“Over the past decade there has been an 87 per cent rise in the number of homeless households who have both mental health and substance use support needs. This event brings together expertise and experience in these fields and more, all vital to ending homelessness for good.”
Maggie Brünjes, chief executive, Homeless Network Scotland, said: “The people in the room in Perth will bring unrivalled expertise and opinion on what needs to happen to ensure people are prioritised, and the sector united, during a housing emergency.
“You only have to look at the line-up of guests, and to know the kind of supporters who come to the conference, to know that this is the right group of people to set in motion change for the better.”
Spread your message by sponsoring or exhibiting at this year’s 2-day homelessness conference, the sector’s largest annual gathering. Reach thousands of homelessness, housing and health and social care professionals in the build-up, and hundreds of delegates over both days.
This year the conference theme is Right Here, Right Now – focusing on the steps that need taken across 4 urgent themes – housing supply, prevention, rights and duties and supporting people. We’re proud to bring you the event in partnership with the Salvation Army.
You can join our main sponsors, who include Blue Triangle, Care Support Scotland, St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity and the Wheatley Group. Or you can select from a range of new opportunities we are offering this year for you to play a key part in the event and to showcase your organisation, its services, solutions, latest learning or messages.
New additions including options for you to host a fringe event where you can highlight a piece of work, provoke discussion, create a networking space – or do something completely different!
Other new opportunities include sponsorship of a networking lunch or dinner to treat the delegates, plus options to advertise in the programme, brand breakout rooms and exhibit in Perth Concert Hall’s bustling foyer.
Check out our brochure detailing all the options and pricing, with a form to book your preferred exhibition and sponsor options. Or if you prefer, get in touch by emailing hello@homelessnetwork.scot
The All in For Change team of people with personal and professional experience of homelessness is touring Scotland again to find out what’s happening on the ground in services — against a backdrop of unprecedented housing pressures.
The Change team will hold free events in Aberdeen, Greenock, Falkirk, Kirkcaldy and Clydebank on the Taking the Temperature National Roadshow – where they will hear about local issues and solutions before sharing their findings with the Scottish Government.
They want to meet and learn from frontline workers and people who have experienced homelessness as well as local authority staff, managers and councillors. And they are keen for people working in health, social care, social work, addiction and criminal justice to come along — the events are open to anyone who can share their insights.
Prevention is a key theme of the roadshow, as new duties in the upcoming Housing Bill will require the wider public sector to intervene earlier to stop people becoming homeless. The Change Team played a key role in developing the ‘Ask and Act’ duties.
Housing supply and use of temporary accommodation are also up for discussion at the free informal events in February and March.
The team is made up of people who know what homelessness looks and feels like through lived or frontline work experience. Homeless Network Scotland and Cyrenians facilitate All in For Change, which is funded by the Scottish Government and Frontline Network.
Roadshow tour dates
Aberdeenshire Council HQ (in Aberdeen) — Tuesday, 20 February
Greenock, Old Auction Rooms — Thursday, 22 February
Kirkcaldy, Fife, New Volunteer House — Tuesday, 5 March
Suzie McIlloney, Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan Officer at South Ayrshire Council, is also a member of the Change Team.
She said: “We must listen and really hear what people are telling us through their experiences of homelessness. The Roadshows offer an opportunity for further insight into where we can do better but also what worked well.
“Travelling in the direction of being trauma informed and trauma responsive, we need to remind ourselves that when facing uncertainties, people need caring and compassionate connections.
“I got involved with the All in For Change Team because I see the value in bringing policymaking and lived experience together to drive forward real change.
“The more opportunities we have to work closer together, the better the outcomes are for people, services, and communities.
“People thrive off hope, purpose and connection and we can often overlook the significant role communities play in this. I believe everyone should have a place of their own to call home, it is the foundation for people to thrive and live well.
“There is an appetite for change so let’s not lose momentum.”
Change Lead Viki Fox has experienced homelessness and is now Policy and Participation Manager with Cyrenians.
She said: “We are really excited to be hosting our second national roadshow. When I started with the Change Team back in 2019, the roadshows were a key focus as we really wanted to talk to, and learn from, others living and working within the homeless sector throughout Scotland.
“Contexts and challenges are very different in each area and it is important that we hear this and can feed it back to the Scottish Government.
“During the pandemic we were doing this online, but nothing beats meeting people in person and having the opportunity to learn from each other.
“Having experienced homelessness myself and now working for Cyrenians, I know that using this knowledge and hearing about what is working well in different localities is invaluable if we are to end homelessness in Scotland.”
Paul McLennan, Minister for Housing, said: “Since taking up office, I’ve met with many Housing Convenors across the country to hear about the issues in their area, but these are only views from one perspective.
“I’m interested to hear from people with lived experience and frontline workers, particularly in relation to the barriers they encounter.
“As we prepare to introduce new homelessness prevention duties, I want to know what people have been through and what works in preventing homelessness from happening in the first place. I’m glad to see the roadshow locations include some more rural communities.
“I’m looking forward to joining the Change Team in Kirkcaldy and hearing some peoples’ experiences first hand.”
The Roadshow events are in five Housing Options Hubs covering local authorities including Aberdeenshire, Inverclyde, Fife, Falkirk and West Dunbartonshire.
The Team will also use the Roadshow to hear evidence of whether the 4 New Directions they have developed to reduce homelessness have been adopted – and where there are barriers.
The directions, designed to help achieve the aims of the Scottish Government Ending Homelessness Together action plan, include co-ordinating services so people don’t have to keep repeating their story when looking for support, and overturning outdated stereotypes of homelessness.
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