Letter to the housing minister on removing the Unsuitable Accommodation Order exemptions

I am extremely disappointed that the exemptions regarding the Unsuitable Accommodation Order will yet again be extended after the 31 January deadline, with a further damaging delay being proposed to the end of June 2021.

Shelter Scotland, alongside all the members of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group, including local government representatives, welcomed the decision to bring forward the date of implementation of the new protections for vulnerable rough sleepers and single homeless people due to the dangers of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. The original plan to implement the protections currently only available to families and pregnant women to cover all homeless people was a proportionate response to the dangers of the time we find ourselves in.

That is why we strongly objected to these exemptions being extended from the previous October 2020 deadline to 31 January 2021.