Ending homelessness together: annual report 2023

Progress against actions to respond quickly and effectively whenever homelessness happens

When homelessness cannot be prevented, local authorities aim to provide a housing-led response, which means offering accommodation and any necessary support as quickly as possible.

Scotland’s most recent homelessness statistics show that there has been an increase in the use of bed and breakfast accommodation when compared to the same time last year. The Scottish Government continues to support local authorities and health and social care partners with their efforts to provide appropriate support and accommodation for all those currently in bed and breakfast accommodation.

• Scottish Government officials meet regularly with senior officers in Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and the City of Edinburgh Council to discuss progress with move on from bed and breakfast accommodation, the use of which is more prevalent in large cities.
• Glasgow City HSCP is committed to ending the use of bed and breakfast accommodation. It has written to all the registered social landlords in the city with a view to securing an increased number of settled homes for homeless households. Landlords have responded very positively so far.
• The City of Edinburgh Council has made clear in its rapid rehousing transition plan that it aims to reduce the use of bed and breakfast-type accommodation and increase its stock of suitable temporary accommodation. The Scottish Government is committed to supporting local authority efforts as far as possible and is working with the council on a set of proposals.
• Following recent drug-related deaths in bed and breakfast accommodation in Glasgow, the Scottish Government is giving consideration to support for Glasgow City HSCP and other local authority areas to better assist those living in temporary accommodation who have problematic drug or alcohol use.

We continue to support local winter planning, including efforts by partners to end the use of night shelter and dormitory-style provision.

Rapid rehousing welcome centres (RRWCs) were initially established in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2020 as part of our commitment to end the use of night shelter and dormitory-style provision. These centres provide short-term, self-contained accommodation and trauma-informed support services, with the aim of assisting people at risk of rough sleeping to move onto more settled accommodation, including Housing First. While our ambition is to transition away from these centres in the future, we recognise that there may always be a need for a small amount of emergency or rapid access accommodation.

• In 2022-23, the Scottish Government provided funding of £207,892 towards the operation of RRWCs in Glasgow and Edinburgh over the winter months.
• In Edinburgh, the RRWC operated from 5 October 2022 to 3 May 2023, and in Glasgow, it operated between 1 December 2022 and 31 March 2023. Visitors were offered
• a variety of services, including health and social care support and help with housing, legal, immigration, financial and employment matters.
• The success of the RRWC model means that there has so far been no return to night shelter or dormitory-style provision in Scotland. There is widespread agreement between national and local government and the third sector that RRWCs enable people experiencing the most acute forms of homelessness to access accommodation and support in a dignified way.
• In 2022-23, the Scottish Government provided £43,200 of funding to third sector organisations in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Dundee, Perth and Kinross and Fife for personalised budgets so that frontline staff could meet the immediate needs of people experiencing or at risk of homelessness or rough sleeping.
• Bethany Christian Trust and Glasgow City Mission have published reports on the use of RRWCs in Glasgow and Edinburgh. During winter 2022-23, the Edinburgh centre supported 1,167 individuals and Glasgow supported 534 individuals. The vast majority of guests moved on to a positive destination.[11]

We previously said we would develop a model of frontline outreach, which is linked to our commitment to support frontline staff in their work with people experiencing homelessness. The Scottish Government consulted with third sector homelessness organisations in late 2022 to understand what model, if any, would empower frontline staff and be of value to people using frontline services. There was no consensus on the value of a national model at that point in time. We are therefore no longer taking forward this work.

We also said we would support people engaged in street begging. It has long been understood that not all rough sleepers beg and not all those begging are sleeping rough. Research shows, however, that many of those involved in begging have experience of severe financial hardship, trauma and poor health.[12]

• Our ambition is for a Scotland where everyone has sufficient money to access the essentials they need with dignity. In June 2023, the Scottish Government published a cash-first plan to improve how we respond to financial hardship. This includes a new £1.8 million programme to support local public and third sector partners to strengthen cash-first approaches, generating learning to inform future policy and practice.
• The Scottish Government engages regularly with representatives of homelessness organisations across Scotland to evaluate the extent of rough sleeping and begging in the areas where it is concentrated. We provide funding for personalised budgets so that frontline staff can respond immediately to people on the street with the most acute housing needs.
• Street Change Glasgow is an initiative to prevent begging, rough sleeping and homelessness. It offers a quick way for members of the public to donate via QR codes and a Just Giving page. Led by Simon Community Scotland, Street Change Glasgow has been created in partnership with Glasgow City Mission, The Marie Trust, Lodging House Mission, Glasgow City Council’s Begging Strategy, industry, and those with experience of begging and rough sleeping. It has so far raised over £18,000 to help people pay for food, clothing, utility bills, household essentials and the cost of travel to appointments.
• The City of Edinburgh Council has commissioned work on street begging in the city. In April 2023, a street begging strategy co-ordinator was appointed. The postholder will consult with a range of stakeholders, including third sector organisations, health and justice services, businesses and people involved in begging. Information will be gathered on why people beg, what might reduce reliance on begging and how services might be improved to support people who beg. This will inform a reduction in street begging strategy.

The Scottish Government and COSLA continue to do all we can within our limited powers to prevent homelessness for those with no recourse to public funds (NRPF). We know that people with no recourse to public funds are at higher risk of rough sleeping or destitution.

• The Scottish Government provides annual funding to Homeless Network Scotland to facilitate Fair Way Scotland.[13] Fair Way Scotland is a consortium of third sector organisations that works to ensure people with NRPF have access to living essentials, support, advocacy and third sector funded accommodation.
• A three-year evaluation of Fair Way Scotland by the Institute for Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research at Heriot-Watt University has been commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. A progress report was published in August 2023. It found that:
  • UK Government immigration policy is a key driver of homelessness and destitution for this group.
  • Over 1,200 individuals used Fair Way Scotland services in year one. Of those requiring further support, there is a relatively even balance between people who are appeal rights exhausted asylum seekers and European Economic Area (EEA) nationals with restricted eligibility.
  • Some groups, such as post-Brexit EEA arrivals, Roma with no interest in voluntary return and groups with complex needs, face a heightened risk of being exploited.
• COSLA has started surveying local authorities annually to better understand the scale and complexity of the NRPF condition in Scotland. In May 2023, COSLA published analysis, which found that in 2021-22 councils spent at least £5.9 million to help people with NRPF at risk of destitution.
• COSLA published updated guidance for Scottish local authorities on supporting people with no recourse to public funds in August 2023.
• COSLA has coordinated a series of NRPF training events in the last year for local authority staff, including an introduction to support options for people with NRPF (delivered by the UK NRPF Network) and a session on benefits for EEA nationals (delivered by the Child Poverty Action Group).
• COSLA has published an online webinar on migrants’ rights and entitlements on the Migration Scotland website.
• COSLA continues to host quarterly meetings of the national NRPF Scotland Network for local authorities to share good practice.
• The Scottish Government funds a range of advice and advocacy services[14] to help people to stabilise their immigration status.

We said we would learn from recent initiatives and set out a broader range of accommodation options in crisis situations.

This action was proposed by the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group while we were dealing with a global pandemic. Scotland is now supporting Ukrainians to rebuild their lives in Scotland following the illegal invasion of Ukraine. We learned a lot about responding to homelessness during the pandemic and we have drawn on these lessons in our approach to the next phase of Scotland’s Ukraine response.

• The Scottish Government and local authorities provided an immediate place of safety to thousands of people from Ukraine. In September 2023, we published a new strategy, in collaboration with the Scottish Refugee Council and COSLA, to help Ukrainians settle into communities and find longer term housing.
• We are distributing £30 million to councils to support people into sustainable housing alongside £3.2 million to support the staffing of resettlement teams. While this funding will help councils prevent homelessness for people from Ukraine, councils are able to exercise full discretion and may support other groups in housing need.
• More than £1.5 million is being made available to third sector organisations to support people from Ukraine.
• The Scottish Government’s £50 million Ukraine Longer Term Resettlement Fund has helped bring over 1,200 empty properties back into use and has now been extended to 31 March 2025. Many of these homes will be retained as social housing stock when no longer required by people displaced from Ukraine.

We said we would revise legislative arrangements for intentionality and amend the intentionality definition to focus more closely on ‘deliberate manipulation’.

Local authorities currently have discretion rather than a duty to look into the reasons why a person became homeless. The next stage of this work – to narrow the definition of intentionality to focus on deliberate manipulation – has been paused while we focus on other priorities. Very few households are assessed as intentionally homeless[15] but we remain committed to reducing barriers to enable people to get the support they need at the earliest opportunity.

• As of 29 November 2022, local authorities no longer have the power to refer an applicant to another local authority in Scotland[16] on the grounds of their local connection.
• The Scottish Government’s homelessness statistics do not currently show a disproportionate impact for households assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness a result of the change to local connection rules. In 2022-23, 2 per cent (705) of households assessed as homeless were reported as having a local connection with another local authority. This is a lower proportion than the cases that were reported as having a local connection with another authority in 2021-22 (815, 3 per cent).[17]
• Informal data collection on the impact of the change to local connection rules is providing a picture of movement across the country in between formal statistical publications. The quality and the consistency of the data returned has been variable to date and we are working with local authorities to rectify this. We will also continue to work with the local connection solutions group to resolve identified issues for local authorities.

We will consider how the temporary accommodation standards framework can be legally enforced.

• The Scottish Government published a new temporary accommodation standards framework in April 2023.
• The Scottish Government will consider how the standards framework can be legally enforced, as well as determining an implementation date.
• In the period before the standards framework becomes legally enforceable, local authorities will have time to make improvements to their temporary accommodation supply, provide the necessary training for their staff and ensure new processes are implemented in line with the revised standards. The practical application of the standards by local authorities during this period may identify changes needed to the standards before legal enforcement.