Tag: homelessness

Homelessness conference sets delegates emergency task

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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.”

Full programme and booking

Now recruiting: join the Homeless Network Scotland Board

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In the face of a housing emergency and cost of living crisis, homelessness is rising fast in Scotland. At the same time, we have a landmark Housing Bill going through parliament which could, if delivered properly, change the face of homelessness by significantly widening prevention duties.  

Addressing the current homelessness crisis and ensuring we get the legislation and systems we need for the longer term requires people who can inspire, shape and influence positive change. 

The Board of Homeless Network Scotland, the national membership body for organisations and individuals committed to ending homelessness in Scotland, is at the forefront of this work.  

At this critical moment, the board is recruiting new members to extend its reach, broaden its lens and welcome new skills and diverse voices. 

By joining the board, you can make your knowledge and passion count in the collective push to create a better future for everyone in Scotland. And you will have the opportunity to add your voice to an authoritative group of dedicated board members with decades of experience and expertise. 

Convenor Jackie Erdman, formerly Head of Equality and Human Rights at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “Our trustees span different sectors and disciplines, bringing expertise and passion to the role. 

“We aim to provide a holistic oversight to the work, supporting the team in their engagement with Homeless Network Scotland members. We believe that homelessness can only be resolved through approaches that link up health, wellbeing and housing, informed by engagement with people who have experienced homelessness. We welcome new trustees who can help us develop that strategy. From my experience, I know you will find it stimulating and rewarding.” 

Current board member Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, director of the Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research (I-SPHERE) at Heriot-Watt University, said: “As well as contributing to efforts to end homelessness in Scotland and influencing the future direction of how systems and services respond to homelessness, you’ll be working with colleagues with diverse and deep expertise across housing, homelessness and related sectors.” 

Vice-convenor Peter Kelly, chief executive of the Poverty Alliance, said: “Being a Board member is an incredibly rewarding role. As a trustee you will undoubtedly learn as much as you contribute.” 

James Strang, chair of Riverside Scotland and former president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, said: “The latest set of annual homeless statistics reveal rising homelessness and rough sleeping – and show exactly why we need to push on with our work. We welcome nominations from people who can widen our scope and add to our existing skills and knowledge. This is an opportunity to make a real difference for people and communities all over Scotland.” 

About Homeless Network Scotland  

From its origins as a local charity formed in 1980, it is now the national membership body of people and organisations committed to ending homelessness in Scotland. It is an organisation that acts on evidence and is informed by people with direct experience of homelessness and by the breadth of its members’ insights and knowledge. 

Homeless Network Scotland provides direction, connects people, and works to inspire the values and vision that will transform Scotland into a place where everyone has a home. Read more about our work: www.homelessnetwork.scot 

The Role of the Board  

A Board member of Homeless Network Scotland is a non-executive company director and a charity trustee. The Board of Directors:   

  • Work in the interests of Homeless Network Scotland and further its influence and its strategic and charitable aims. 
  • Take part in reviewing the strategy of Homeless Network Scotland and accounting for its activities and impact.     
  • Ensure that Homeless Network Scotland functions within the legal and financial requirements of a charitable organisation and strives to achieve best practice.     

You are warmly encouraged to make a nomination for election to the Board of Directors of Homeless Network Scotland, which will be decided at the AGM on 29 October 2024 at Perth Concert Hall.  

Nomination information and form

October Network Briefing out now

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Among this month’s briefings are the latest report into the Fair Way Scotland partnership, which reveals the toll of destitution inflicted by UK immigration policy on people seeking to settle in Scotland – the hidden humanitarian crisis within the housing emergency. 

We also share news of the launch of No Wrong Door Scotland, a learning partnership working to join up services for people at the hard edges. 

Other must-read briefings cover reaction to homelessness statistics and the Housing Bill, child poverty, digital exclusion, plus a video and blog on the new rental sector in Romania – where people were asked what makes the ‘ideal’ landlord. 

Find the briefing below and subscribe here to stay in the loop each month on homelessness, housing and related areas.

Read the briefing

Homelessness data reveals a breach of trust

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The annual homelessness statistics released today by the Scottish Government make for sober reading. And reveal the breach of trust between government and the housing and homelessness sector in Scotland.

The figures reveal a 4% rise in homelessness applications – topping 40,000 households asking their council for help during 2023-24. An 8% rise in live cases nationwide to 31,870 and a 9% rise in people stuck in temporary accommodation – a record high – including more than 10,000 kids waiting for a permanent home. 506 more people experienced the sharpest edge of homelessness, being forced to sleep rough with no roof over their heads at all.

These are not just numbers – they are individuals, families and children being let down in a crisis and diverted to temporary flats, hotels and B&Bs, instead of homes, for months on end.

It is a deeply distressing situation for people affected, as well as for the services and sectors that support people, and the organisations committed to advocating for people and for change.

While the post-pandemic environment and cost-of-living crisis has played a hand, Scotland’s progressive housing policy has been undermined by its own hand and the fiscal policy of both UK and Scottish Governments.

The Scottish Government’s December budget made a hugely damaging £200m cut to the affordable housing supply programme, over and above the reach of the UK Government’s capital budget freeze. It is notable that the quarterly housing statistics also published today showed affordable home approvals were 44% lower than the peak figure in the year to June 2020.

Each and every decision jeopardising housing targets and exposing the progress made towards ending homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland to new risk. And each and every decision betraying the trust of the sector, ignoring warnings, expert insights and evidence.

Scotland has a housing emergency – it’s time to act like it.

But how? Only with housing and fiscal policy aligned, and a supply of affordable housing in line with demand, will we see the scale of progress we need on the key pillars of Scotland’s progressive homelessness policy – prevention, reducing unsuitable, expensive and temporary accommodation, ensuring childhoods are spent in settled not temporary homes, scaling up Housing First for those at the hardest edge – and ensuring people seeking sanctuary or to settle in Scotland have a safe place to stay.

The statistics show thousands of people are being denied their legal right to housing because the system is operating way beyond capacity.  Our progressive housing and homelessness rights are designed to avoid this, but urgently need backed up with adequate investment in homelessness, support and building social homes.

And we need to think big – on matters of land and wealth tax and on the society we want to be.

In the near-term, local authorities need proper funding to discharge their statutory duty properly in the face of intense external pressures. And they need proper investment support to implement rapid rehousing plans. This approach is proven to work – a system that prioritises earlier prevention and ensures stays in temporary accommodation are as brief as possible.

Without these interventions – and without thinking big – these statistics will become entrenched as a predictable yearly roll call of how tens of thousands of people experiencing homelessness are failed year after year in Scotland.

Breaking down barriers to support for people at the hard edges will create a more equal Scotland

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No Wrong Door Scotland partnership launched to create a blueprint for joined-up services that address multiple disadvantage

A major new test of change has been launched to explore how to break down barriers to support faced by tens of thousands of people in Scotland who face multiple disadvantages – with their experience made worse by unequal access to help. 

No Wrong Door Scotland will draw on a wide range of professional, academic and lived experience to explore how to better serve people who are dealing simultaneously with issues such as homelessness, poverty, addiction, offending and mental ill health. 

Experts in the action learning partnership will address the mismatch of services that focus on a single issue and the overlapping challenges many people face – often as a result of adverse life experiences going back to childhood. 

This fragmented model forces people to repeat their story and often relive traumatic events when they go round the different ‘doors’ in the system in search of help. 

A National Learning Set of experts who will oversee and contribute to the programme met for the first time in Edinburgh on Monday 16 September. 

The two-year programme will wrap a learning cycle around existing services at local level to understand how to deliver No Wrong Door in different geographical and service contexts.  

Evidence gathered from the services run by Aberdeen Foyer, Cyrenians, Penumbra and Turning Point Scotland will feed into the National Learning Set, who will develop a National Framework for creating cross-sector and integrated service delivery. 

They will share evidence gathered from the test-of-change with the Scottish Government’s Ministerial Oversight Group on Homelessness, to influence a new model of service design. Homeless Network Scotland is the learning partner in No Wrong Door Scotland. 

No Wrong Door Scotland is made up of third sector innovators, lived experience experts, policy makers and leading public figures. They include former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, now associate director at the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Glasgow; Karyn McCluskey, who helped create the groundbreaking Violence Reduction Unit and is now chief executive of Community Justice Scotland; and leading international scholar on homelessness Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick. 

The partnership builds on findings in the Hard Edges Scotland research co-authored by Prof Fitzpatrick, director of Heriot-Watt University’s Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research (I-SPHERE). 

That report set out how people who have suffered experiences such as trauma, violence and poverty are much more likely to face multiple and overlapping disadvantage.

But they are also less likely to be able to get the support they need because of services operating in ‘silos’ – fuelling a vicious cycle of disadvantage and inequality.

The Hard Edges research revealed that 5,700 adults experience three ‘core’ forms of severe and multiple disadvantage (homelessness, offending and substance dependency), while 28,800 experience two out of these three.

The four test-of-change services are based in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Fife

Aberdeen Foyer’s service focuses on upstream work in schools to ensure young people don’t face barriers to support, while Cyrenians’ Hospital In-reach Service supports patients who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Penumbra’s Hope Point is a 24-hour wellbeing centre that supports people in emotional distress. Turning Point Scotland’s Fife Support Service marries a Housing First model with an innovative Whole System Approach to prevent and respond to homelessness.

Maggie Brunjes, chief executive of Homeless Network Scotland said: “It is well established that the way services are paid for and provided does not work for people who, on top of traumatic life experiences, are also dealing with issues including physical and mental ill health, substance use, homelessness, poverty and offending. 

“The current model doesn’t work for anyone. It makes navigating the system difficult for people, it widens disadvantage and inequality, makes key workers’ jobs harder and it mounts pressure on public spend. 

“The Scottish Government is already committed to using a No Wrong Door approach across a range of social policy, but we need a shared definition of what this looks like and a national framework to inspire local and national action.  

“By using evidence of what is working locally, and what needs to change, we can firmly challenge the status quo and demonstrate that a better way is possible.” 

➡ For more information, visit nowrongdoor.scot.