This half-day seminar was held in Edinburgh on 11 January 2011 to look at how local authorities and housing associations can benefit, as part of their homelessness prevention strategy, from a proactive approach to managing rent arrears.

The event was chaired by Graeme Brown, Director, Shelter Scotland. In the first session Aidan Grisewood, Deputy Director of Social Housing at the Scottish Government, talked about the importance of preventing evictions in homelessness strategy.

Aidan was followed by Eleanor Hamilton, Principal Solicitor with Shelter Scotland’s Housing Law Service, who focused on the introduction of Pre-Action Requirements for evictions in the Housing (Scotland) Bill 2010.

You can download their presentations here:

• Aidan Grisewood, Deputy Director, Social Housing, Scottish Government
• Eleanor Hamilton, Principal Solicitor, Shelter Scotland Housing Law Service

Download a copy of Shelter Scotland’s report on progress on evictions carried out by social landlords in Scotland during the past year here

Delegates were then asked to think about and discuss improvements to evictions policies and practice within their own organisations.

The second session focused on best practice and Tony Cain, Head of Housing at Stirling Council, began the session by outlining the benefits and results from a new approach to arrears management at the Council.  Martin Wilkie-Macfarlane, National Services Manager at Shelter Scotland, talked about the pilot project Shelter has worked on with Stirling Council in re-engaging with hard to reach clients. Fiona Scott, Policy Officer at Dunedin Canmore Housing Association, gave details of a number of initiatives Dunedin Canmore have put in place to assist tenants with rent arrears and help them stay in their homes.

You can download their presentations here:

• Tony Cain, Head of Housing, Stirling Council
  (supporting documents: Escalation process | Housing services arrears process | New tenancy profile | Pre-court action protocol)
• Martin Wilkie-Macfarlane, National Services Manager, Shelter Scotland
• Fiona Scott, Policy Officer, Dunedin Canmore Housing Association