Shelter's evidence to LG&C Committee

Scotland has made good progress towards the 2012 target, having travelled four-fifths of the way there. However, most councils now need to increase the pace of progress to be fully on track to meet the target:

• The Committee may wish to ask the Minister whether he feels that he has sufficient means to gather evidence on what is happening with the homelessness programme and whether he has the tools available to drive it forward.

• Shelter believes that there should be a 'stock-take' on progress towards 2012 and a detailed implementation plan to cover the years 2009-2012.

• The pattern of lets of social housing and the trend in temporary accommodation use both show signs of a system under some pressure:
- the use of temporary accommodation has more than doubled since 2002
- 30 per cent of all social lets go to homeless people.

• However, in the case of lets, for Scotland as a whole, the pressure is not yet as marked as is sometimes claimed. To the extent that there is pressure, it is primarily due to a decline in housing supply.

• The evidence in this paper, coupled with dramatic changes in the housing supply chain, make even more compelling the case for a programme of 10,000 affordable homes per year.