Category: News

UK Budget first test of PM’s homelessness pledge

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THIS week’s Budget will be the first test of the Prime Minister’s pledge to end homelessness, a coalition of nearly 40 Scottish charities and academics has warned.

The coalition, convened by Homeless Network Scotland, has written to the Chancellor urging him to scrap the benefit cap and bedroom tax and end the freeze on Local Housing Allowance.

It says the policies leave low-income households struggling to meet their housing costs and raise the risk of homelessness, while tens of millions of pounds of public money in Scotland is diverted into reducing their impact.

Maggie Brünjes, Chief Executive of Homeless Network Scotland, said: “Housing policy is devolved to the Scottish Parliament but the reality is that the benefit cap, the bedroom tax and the Local Housing Allowance freeze are UK-wide policies which increase the risk of homelessness and which only Ministers in Westminster have the power to end.

“Andy Burnham has spoken strongly about his determination to end homelessness across all of the UK, while the Chancellor has previously described policies like the bedroom tax as ‘callous, reckless and heartless’. They now both have the chance to show that there is real intent behind the rhetoric and scrap these damaging measures.”

With the Scottish Government recently announcing £115 million in Discretionary Housing Payments, including funding to mitigate the UK restrictions, the coalition argues that public money could be better spent preventing homelessness in the first place.

It has pointed to the success of a £1 million prevention fund in Scotland, which prevented homelessness for 662 households over one year and is estimated to have saved almost £10 million in costs. The coalition says scrapping the policies would reduce the need for mitigation, freeing up funding which it would press the Scottish Government to put towards wider prevention work.

The call comes after annual figures released last month showed homelessness and rough sleeping continuing to rise across Scotland, with record numbers of children living in temporary accommodation.

Ms Brünjes added: “While it is welcome to see the Scottish Government mitigating the impact of these policies, it makes little financial sense for a government in one part of the UK to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money reducing the impact of policies imposed by a government in another part, while Ministers in both parliaments stress their ambition to end homelessness.

“Across Scotland, families are struggling to cover their rent, record numbers of children are living in temporary accommodation and rough sleeping is rising. This is funding that could instead help us scale up the proven approaches that we know can prevent people from losing their homes in the first place.

“The Chancellor has an opportunity to demonstrate he will match rhetoric with action by using his first Budget to scrap these policies and help families across Scotland keep a roof over their heads.”

Local Housing Allowance determines the amount of financial support low-income households can receive towards private rents. Rates have been frozen at 2024 levels, leaving households exposed to rising housing costs without corresponding increases in support.

The benefit cap limits the total amount of welfare support some working-age households can receive, while the bedroom tax reduces housing support for working-age social housing tenants deemed to have spare bedrooms.

The coalition is urging the Chancellor to use the Budget to lift the restrictions, ending the need for mitigation payments so more funding can go towards prevention.

HNS comment on homelessness statistics: housing emergency must not become the ‘new normal’

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It’s just over a year since the Scottish Government published its Housing Emergency Action Plan with a promise of “positive and lasting change” and a specific pledge to “ensure children are not spending long periods in temporary accommodation.”

Twelve months on, and Scotland’s annual homelessness statistics released this week make for grim reading. They paint the picture of a crisis that not only continues to head in the wrong direction but is now at real risk of becoming Scotland’s new normal.

The figures show over 35,000 households across Scotland are assessed as homeless, a record 19,004 households are in temporary accommodation and rough sleeping numbers have continued to rise.

Behind every one of these figures are people and families living with the uncertainty of homelessness or the threat of homelessness, with lives on hold in the limbo of temporary accommodation or facing a night sleeping rough on the streets.

Perhaps most concerningly – in light of that government pledge – we are yet again seeing record numbers of children losing months or years of their early lives to the uncertainty of life in temporary accommodation and without the security of a settled home.

The impact of this on children extends far beyond the issue of housing. It affects their mental health, their education and their ability to form stable friendships in early life. Temporary accommodation has a role to play in tackling homelessness – but it should be a safety net, not the place where a child grows up.

The frustrating thing about these figures is that the causes of homelessness and the solutions are not a mystery. We know one of the main reasons people cannot move out of temporary accommodation to take the next step in life is because the homes are not there for them to do so.

Expert research shows Scotland needs 15,693 affordable homes every year of this parliament to meet the scale of the crisis. But last year the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply programme delivered just 6,832 completions. Projections from the Fraser of Allander Institute show that Ministers are on course to miss their own target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.

Similarly, while Ministers speak of Scotland having some of the strongest homelessness protections in the world, that only matters if those rights are enforceable on the ground – something that is currently not always the case.

If you are homeless in Scotland, you have a legal right to be offered temporary accommodation. Yet this week’s figures show, shockingly, that there were 21,800 instances over the last year when the offer wasn’t made.

Scotland was right to declare a housing emergency and to publish the Housing Emergency Action Plan – which as a reminder also promised “bold, coordinated response”. But the nature of an emergency means business as usual goes out the window and you do things differently. That means investing at a scale that matches the crisis, taking more radical measures than would normally be the case, and clearing away barriers that stand in the way of delivery.  

Turning this into practice must start with increasing investment in housebuilding to deliver the numbers required. There also needs to be rapid scaling up proven policy solutions such as Housing First, which we know delivers results and is crucial in preventing rough sleeping, yet only sits at around 10% of national demand.

At the same time, the rhetoric on shifting the system response to a truly joined up and preventative one needs to be recognised on the ground. We need to create a system response among our public services that intervenes early before people reach crisis point and in a way that prevents them being passed from one service to another, often falling through the gaps.

It is not too late to deliver on the above promise of positive and lasting change. But these figures must be a wake-up call. Scotland’s housing and homelessness crisis cannot be permitted to become the new normal and another year of damaging record numbers cannot be accepted as something inevitable.

The solutions are there and we know what works. What is needed now is the political will, the investment and the urgency to turn these into practice.

Because for the people and the children behind these figures, Scotland’s housing emergency is not a set of statistics, it is their daily reality.

Homeless Network Scotland Responds to the Programme for Government: a welcome direction, but delivery remains key

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Yesterday saw MSPs return to Holyrood from their summer recess and with no hanging around it was straight into launching the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government. Homeless Network Scotland’s Head of Policy and Impact Matt Hamill welcomes the focus on prevention and joined-up ways of working – but says commitments must be turned into action.

Unlike previous publications which have tended to be annual events planning the year ahead, this Programme for Government sets out a five-year vision up to the next Scottish Parliament elections. As such, it can be taken as a pretty significant indicator of Ministers’ strategic thinking.

There was much to welcome in the Programme, not least some of the language being used. Far more significant than any one stand-alone announcement was confirmation that two principles that HNS and our wider partners have been clear are critical to tackling homelessness now sit central to the thinking of the Scottish Government. 

Prevention and No Wrong Door

The first is prevention and the idea of shifting the mindset from managing homelessness after it has occurred, to ensuring people receive the support they need before they reach crisis. It was encouraging therefore to see that thinking echoed in the First Minster’s foreword as he wrote about the need to prioritise upstream homelessness prevention measures. 

The second can be found further into the document with the Programme speaking of the need for a No Wrong Door approach to ensure people “need only ask once” with the system then shaping itself around the individual rather than requiring a person to navigate complex systems or repeat their story to a range of public service providers. 

No Wrong Door is central to Homeless Network Scotland’s own thinking and is the theory behind the national protocol for supporting people with severe and multiple disadvantage that we will be launching next month at our conference. To see this thinking occupying such a prominent place in the Programme for Government is therefore very positive. 

There are further announcements which are to be welcomed. The housing and homelessness sector have supported calls for the ‘Fund to Leave’- a fund to assist women and children leave an abusive partner- to be made permanent and Ministers have heeded that call. Similarly, the Programme recognises the challenges faced by refugees and asylum seekers and at a time when many in this community are feeling at particular risk, it is encouraging to see confirmation of a delivery plan to support them.

But rhetoric and the commitments do ultimately have to translate into delivery and on this front, questions remain. 

Building the social homes we need

The most prominent is on housebuilding, the foundation on which wider measures to tackle housing and homelessness will rise or fall. In recent weeks both Fraser of Allander Institute and Holyrood’s own independent research unit have warned that the Scottish Government is on course to miss its target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. Scottish Ministers will need to set out how they plan to breathe life back into a housebuilding programme which is visibly losing momentum.  

Details of how Scotland’s new housing agency will help achieve this remain to be filled in, with the agency not due to be fully up and running until 2028-29. Given the agency says it plans to offer ‘simplicity and speed’ this does feel like an extended set up process, more so when you consider Canada was able to set up a similar housing agency up in around six months. 

Housing First and children in temporary accommodation

The role of Housing First is another question mark, with the Programme committing to 1,500 housing first tenancies over five years, or 300 each year. But this figure is the current rate and that is only meeting around 10% of national demand. If Housing First is to be “scaled up” as Ministers say it is, then maintaining the current rate of delivery surely cannot be the goal.  

Similarly, while the intention on ending the use of unsafe and harmful temporary accommodation for children is to be welcomed, there is a lack of detail in the Programme on what “ending” looks like and on what targets or milestones could measure progress. 

Overall, there is plenty in this Programme for Government that gives cause for optimism. Prevention over crisis management, joined up services wrapping around individuals and recognition that homelessness is more than simply a ‘housing issue’ and that it impacts on portfolios across government. This is the right mindset and HNS stand ready to work with Ministers to help turn this into practical delivery on the ground. 

But delivery on the ground is the part that matters. Scotland has no shortage of good intent; the challenge is turning that into action on housing targets, the expansion of housing first and the delivery of truly preventative, joined up public services.  

The programme for government has set the direction, the test for our politicians is now showing they can turn that into delivery.

Housing emergency must be priority as Holyrood returns

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A coalition of 40 leading organisations across Scotland working to end homelessness has called for an urgent Ministerial Statement to update Parliament on the housing emergency as MSPs prepare to return from their summer break.

The call comes as the Scottish Government prepares to set out its priorities in the annual Programme for Government, and follows the Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s own radical pledge that everyone sleeping rough in England will be offered a route off the street by Christmas.

The expert coalition of charities and academics – convened by Homeless Network Scotland – has called for the statement during MSPs’ first week back, while setting out five tests which it says will help judge Holyrood’s response to the crisis over the course of the new parliamentary term.

The move also comes as Ministers prepare to publish Scotland’s latest annual homelessness statistics. Last year’s figures painted a grim picture of the scale of the emergency, showing a record 10,480 children across Scotland stuck in temporary accommodation while the number of open homeless cases hit record highs.

The coalition has urged Ministers to use the Statement to update on what progress has been made and to set out the Scottish Government’s own response to the recent pledges from Andy Burnham.

The coalition has also published a set of five tests, which it says will show if policymakers are serious about tackling Scotland’s housing emergency. These are:

  1. Building the minimum 15,693 new social homes each year that expert research shows is needed, backed by £8.8billion of investment.
  2. Making tackling homelessness, sustainability, and reducing affordable housing need the top priorities of the new housing agency, More Homes Scotland.
  3. Delivering a year-on-year reduction in the number of children and families in temporary accommodation over the parliament, by making more social homes available and making the best use of existing stock including converting temporary tenancies into settled homes.
  4. Preventing homelessness earlier by placing rights-based early prevention and access to joined-up public services at the heart of Scotland’s response.
  5. Ending the need for anyone in Scotland to sleep rough at any time of year by using every available option, including ramping up proven support solutions like Housing First.

Homeless Network Scotland chief executive Maggie Brünjes said: “We have seen a strong statement of political intent from the Prime Minister on homelessness and rough sleeping in England. As this new session of the Scottish Parliament now gets properly underway following the election and the summer recess, it is absolutely critical that Scotland now shows similar ambition.

“Ahead of the Programme for Government, it is only right that Parliament and the public receive an update on what steps the Scottish Government has planned to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, following the recent commitments from the Prime Minister.

“Our five tests provide a set of clear and measurable standards against which all of us can judge the progress made by politicians over the next five years. These can ensure that homelessness and the housing emergency remain a national priority over this parliament.

“Homelessness is not inevitable. We know what works, and as MSPs prepare for the new parliamentary term, this is the ideal moment for them to show the public that they grasp the scale of this emergency and are prepared to do what it takes to rise to the occasion.”

The silo tax: why the people who need help most still pay the highest price

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Maggie Brünjes, Homeless Network Scotland chief executive, on why the people who need help most still pay the highest price – and how The Level can raise the floor.

When life gets complicated, people need more than one kind of help. 

A safe home. Support with mental health or recovery. Help with money. Protection from harm. A fair chance with the justice system. 

But the services meant to help still often work in separate boxes. People cannot unpack their crises one by one. They get passed from door to door – or fall through the gaps entirely. 

For people whose lives have been shaped by poverty, trauma, violence and inequality, this is not rare. It’s routine. Siloed systems do not cause these problems on their own. But they deepen them, repeat them – and make recovery far harder. 

These are the hard edges of Scotland’s public services. 

A system that asks the impossible. 

Severe and multiple disadvantage is what happens when mental health, addiction, homelessness, offending, poverty and trauma overlap in one life. These issues reinforce each other. A prison sentence can trigger the loss of housing. Homelessness can deepen mental ill-health. Distress is self-managed with substances, increasing the risk of further justice. And round it goes. 

No single service can break that cycle alone. Yet we still too often ask people to recover in sequence: sort this problem first, then that one, then the next. 

The human cost is profound. People retell their trauma at every door. Some disengage. Some only find continuity through crisis. Hard Edges Scotland even found people offending in the hope of getting support through the justice system. When that is what “access” looks like, the system has already failed. 

There is a public cost too. Repeated emergency responses, revolving-door demand and missed prevention create what can fairly be called a silo tax: the extra price paid when fragmented services meet complex lives. People at the hard edges pay it first. Public services and communities pay it too. 

Everyone agrees on the direction. Delivery is the gap. 

For years, Scotland has committed to prevention, integration and No Wrong Door. The ambition is shared. The problem is consistent implementation for the people whose lives cross multiple systems at once. 

That is why The Level matters. 

The Level is Scotland’s practical Delivery Protocol for people facing severe and multiple disadvantage. It is not another strategy competing for attention or resources. It turns existing commitments into everyday practice. It sets a national floor while enabling local leadership. And it gives practitioners, practice leaders, funders, commissioners and policymakers shared tools to work across boundaries. 

At its simplest, The Level helps us do three things: 

  • Prevent system failure where it hurts and costs most. 
  • Integrate services from the margins inward. 
  • Raise the national floor so the most marginalised are not left behind. 

It is built from evidence, lived experience and frontline learning – including a three-year test of change across different local contexts. It is about culture and practice as much as process: rebuilding trust with people who have been let down before – and stopping the system from adding harm. 

When the system works for people at the hard edges, the floor rises for everyone 

If we keep failing the same people in the same ways, nothing else we do will fully work. A system that can hold complexity, act earlier and stay with people through overlapping needs becomes more preventative and more resilient for the wider population too. 

On 6-7 October at Perth Concert Hall, Scotland’s National Summit on Severe and Multiple Disadvantage will bring together people from housing, health, justice, social care, community organisations and lived experience to face this challenge directly. 

Day 2 includes the formal launch of The Level. 

This is not a conference for stating the problem one more time. It is a moment to agree how Scotland turns No Wrong Door into consistent practice for people at the hard edges – and to leave with shared tools, clearer expectations and a strong common purpose. 

Join us. 

Raising the Level: from hard edges to whole lives. 

Perth Concert Hall, 6-7 October 

If your work or life connects to multiple disadvantage, you should be in the room.