Ending homelessness together: annual report 2023

Progress against actions to embed a person-centred approach

We continue to develop the evidence base on homelessness and we have begun the review of our homelessness data collection.

• We have commissioned research into housing insecurity and hidden homelessness to better understand those people who do not appear in Scotland’s official figures. The research will be completed by May 2024.
• In July 2023, we completed a review of methods used internationally to identify people experiencing hidden homelessness.
• Our homelessness data review working group and its sub-groups continue to meet regularly to discuss the required changes to the current homelessness data collection. Views have also been sought from external stakeholders.
• We will consider the feasibility of collecting data on all protected characteristics, in line with the aims of Scotland’s equality evidence strategy 2023-25, so we can develop sound and inclusive homelessness policies.
• We will complete the review of our homelessness datasets by the end of 2025 and implement agreed changes by the end of 2027.

We continue to apply a gendered analysis to our actions and conduct equality impact assessments, ensuring the homelessness system meets the needs of diverse groups of women.

• The Scottish Government is carrying out a full suite of impact assessments, including an equality impact assessment, as part of the development of the prevention of homelessness provisions in the forthcoming housing bill.
• Scottish Government officials liaised with colleagues in the Office for National Statistics on research on women experiencing hidden homelessness in the UK to ensure Scotland’s research into hidden homelessness complements the UK research.
• Recognising that domestic abuse is one of the main causes of homelessness for women, we will pilot a ‘fund to leave’ to help women with the costs of leaving an abusive relationship.
• The Marion Gibbs Award for Equality in Housing, a new Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland award,[2] was announced in August 2023. The award is in recognition of Marion’s contribution to housing and homelessness and will celebrate organisations working to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.

We said we would support the homelessness system to respond more appropriately to the shared needs of mothers and children.

We are disappointed that the number of children in temporary accommodation has risen since last year. The Scottish Government’s latest homelessness statistics covering the period

1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 show that the number of homeless households has increased by 10 per cent and the number of children in temporary accommodation has increased by 9 per cent. Local authorities are working hard to support people experiencing homelessness but they are still dealing with long waiting lists for social housing.

• The expert task and finish group that was asked to consider how we can reduce the numbers of households, especially those with children, staying long periods in temporary accommodation, delivered its report in March 2023.
• The Scottish Government published its response in July 2023. We are prioritising action that will have the greatest impact on reducing the number of children in temporary accommodation.
• Scottish Government and Public Health Scotland (PHS) officials have joined the peer advisory group for a piece of research commissioned by Shelter Scotland and part-funded by PHS to explore children’s experiences of temporary accommodation. The research is led by De Montfort University and is expected to conclude in summer 2024.

The Scottish Government and COSLA remain committed to ensuring homelessness services are grounded in ‘no wrong door’[3] and person-centred principles. We want to make homelessness assessments more flexible so that anyone who needs a service can access it in a way that suits them.

• The Scottish Government provided budgets to frontline organisations in winter 2022-23 so that outreach teams could respond immediately to people with the most acute housing needs. Nearly 500 people were supported to sustain or establish tenancies, top up prepayment meters and acquire essentials.
• The new homelessness prevention duties are set to be introduced in the Scottish Government’s housing bill during 2023-24. The legislation will be faithful to the principle of ‘no wrong door’ to ensure people can access the help they need irrespective of where the risk of homelessness is first identified.
• The new temporary accommodation standards, published in April 2023, are clear that services should be shaped by an assessment of the needs of all members of the household.

We have supported even more people to access digital equipment, data and training.

• Simon Community Scotland’s Get Connected 500 launched in May 2022 with funding from the Scottish Government and JP Morgan Chase Foundation.
• So far, 500 people experiencing homelessness have been helped to connect to the digital world.

We will continue to raise public awareness of homelessness and challenge stigma.

• In the year ahead, we will collaborate with Homeless Network Scotland to develop training sessions, incorporating lived experience perspectives, for Scottish Government policy makers. The aim is to promote wider government understanding of homelessness and the effects of stigmatising language.
• Since taking up his appointment in March 2023, Scotland’s housing minister has raised public awareness of homelessness, shared our ambitions to prevent and end homelessness on social media @ScotGovFairer and met with homelessness charity leaders, people with lived experience of homelessness and housing conveners of local authorities. He has spoken at a number of events and parliamentary debates. These include the Housing First Europe Partners’ Event in Glasgow in April 2023, a debate on homelessness prevention and housing supply in April 2023 and the official opening of Crisis Skylight Edinburgh in September 2023.