Scotland’s Housing First Pathfinder

Since 2018, Scotland’s plan to end homelessness has been focused on ordinary, settled housing as quickly as possible, with Housing First the default for people whose homelessness is made harder by experiences with trauma, addicitons or mental ill-health.

The 3-year Pathfinder (2019-22) worked to make Housing First a reality on a much bigger scale than had previously been known. It worked in a new and collaborative way across sectors to understand and establish the relationships, structures and processes needed – and to act as the catalyst to branch out Housing First right across Scotland.

The Pathfinder was catalysed by Social Bite and Scottish Government who were also the primary funders in years 1 and 2. Year 3 was jointly funded by Scottish Government and local authorities.

The six Pathfinder areas were: Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling.

Homeless Network Scotland and Corra Foundation were appointed as project and fund managers, with 5 consortia established across 6 local authority areas as follows:

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire – was led by Aberdeen Cyrenians in partnership with Aberdeen Foyer, Turning Point Scotland, Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council.

Dundee – was led by Transform Community Development, in partnership with the Salvation Army, Dundee Survival Group and We Are With You (formerly Addaction).

Edinburgh – was led by Cyrenians in partnership with Turning Point Scotland, Rock Trust, Streetwork at Simon Community Scotland, Bethany Christian Trust, Hillcrest Futures (previously Gowrie Care) and Wheatley Care.

Glasgow – was led by Turning Point Scotland in partnership with Simon Community Scotland, Salvation Army and Wheatley Care.

Stirling – was a partnership between Loretto Care and Barony (which subsequently merged into Wheatley Care).

Scotland’s Housing First pathfinder is independently evaluated by Heriot-Watt university who review and report on the process adopted, the outcomes achieved, and the cost benefit delivered. An interim evaluation has been published, with the final evaluation due 2022.

In addition, an annual check-up report was produced by Homeless Network Scotland for years 1 and 2 of the Pathfinder, providing a summary of who has benefited from Housing First and the progress made against the 3 measurable goals that the Pathfinder has been working towards.