Shelter Scotland written evidence on homelessness for the Local Government and Communities committee

Shelter Scotland has submitted evidence to the Local Government and Communities committee on homelessness, which includes the key recommendations from our current campaign Homelessness: Far From Fixed. We believe there is an urgent need for the Scottish Government to re-focus on homelessness and to introduce a new National Homelessness Strategy. We therefore welcome this inquiry from the committee.

Scotland has a strong track record in tackling and preventing homelessness, but in spite of this progress, homelessness in Scotland is far from fixed.

There are complex challenges which must be addressed urgently, and require a coordinated approach. There is for example concern regarding:

The impact of the welfare reforms on individuals, local authorities and social landlords

The increase in social sector evictions as a response to managing rent arrears

The pressure on local authority budgets and the potential risk to funding for homelessness services

The pressure on the provision of and funding for temporary accommodation

The length of time spent in temporary accommodation

The quality and affordability of temporary accommodation

The ability to move households on to appropriate settled accommodation

The lack of consistent Scotland wide housing support services for offenders to help prevent re-offending

The disproportionately slow reduction in the number of young people becoming homeless

The increasing proportion of people with complex needs and the need to make appropriate services available for this group.