Homelessness prevention: business and regulatory impact assessment

Consultation

Within Government

In developing this BRIA, we have consulted with colleagues across a wide range of portfolios, including:

• Housing
• Justice (prisons and police powers)
• Health and Social Care (General Practice Policy, Public Protection, and National Care Service)
• Social work
• Violence against Women and Girls
• Keeping The Promise
• Distress Intervention and Mental Health
• Drugs Policy
• Further and Higher Education
• Communities Analysis
• Scottish Government Legal Directorate.

Public bodies

We have consulted with representatives of the relevant bodies, many of whom are also public bodies, which may be impacted by the duties, including:

• Scottish Prison Service
• Police Scotland
• NHS Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Public Health Scotland
• the Information Commissioner’s Office
• Scottish Housing Regulator.

We have also worked with local authorities, COSLA and the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (“ALACHO”) to understand the potential impacts of the changes, and provided opportunity for stakeholders to contribute to the development of the policy including via the Change Team (our homelessness lived experience group) and the Housing Options Hubs.

Stakeholder engagement has helped clarify how we can best meet the principles of the PRG which were widely supported in the responses received to the public consultation. It is our intention that stakeholders will also play an important role in the development of guidance and training to support the implementation of the duties at the appropriate time and following the parliamentary passage of the necessary legislation.

Specific issues raised by stakeholders, including the operation of ‘ask and act’ and ensuring there are no unintended consequences to existing housing rights, are two key issues which have influenced the formulation of the policy.

Public Consultation

A public consultation on the homeless prevention duties^[14] ran from 17 December 2021 to 8 April 2022 and received 113 responses, of which 93 were from organisations and 20 from individuals (see Annex A for the full list of organisations that responded). The consultation, which used the full package of proposals from the PRG’s recommendations as its basis, asked 108 questions.

The aim of the consultation was to seek views on:

• The introduction of new duties on a range of relevant bodies and landlords to prevent homelessness, by ‘asking and acting’ on a risk of homelessness, as well as responsibilities relating to strategic and joint planning.
• Making changes to existing homelessness legislation to ensure homelessness is prevented at an earlier stage and to prescribe what reasonable steps local authorities should consider when working to prevent a person’s homelessness.

Overall, respondents indicated that the proposals would strengthen existing practice, improve consistency and enable a joined-up approach to preventing homelessness. In turn this would positively impact people at greater risk of homelessness and have the potential to create long-term savings or benefits to services.

Several areas were highlighted by stakeholders as potentially problematic, namely:

• that GP’s should be required to undertake a statutory non-medical intervention where they believe someone might be at risk of homelessness, diverting attention away from provision of medical care at a time of significant demand and pressure for services.
• the risk of unintended consequences for 16 and 17 year olds if child social work were to play a lead role, diminished existing housing rights for this cohort.
• issues of consent relating to referring of domestic abuse victim-survivors and follow up contact arrangements.
• appeals to the First Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber), specifically in relation to resource and workload implications for local authorities and the Tribunal.

As a result of the consultation responses and the in-depth engagement detailed earlier, the policy was adapted to take account of the concerns raised while ensuring it was still in keeping with the spirit of the PRG recommendations. This has been communicated to key stakeholders.

Stakeholder engagement / Business

A significant programme of stakeholder engagement has taken throughout the period 2021 to 2024.

This includes with COSLA and ALACHO, local authorities (including but not limited to the Housing Options Hubs) and third sector organisations working in the housing sector, including Scottish Federation of Housing Associations; Crisis; Shelter; Cyrenians; Chartered Institute of Housing and Homelessness Network Scotland, as well as particular interest groups such as The Promise, Scottish Women’s Aid and Engender.

Throughout this engagement, stakeholders have been provided with the opportunity to hear directly from the Scottish Government on its intentions as well as to inform the development of the policy

Furthermore, the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (“HPSG”) Prevention Task and Finish Group was convened and asked to consider what action was required in the short term to prepare the ground for the introduction of the duties at the appropriate point. The group met monthly between October 2022 and March 2023. Co-chairs Crisis and Cyrenians, working with the Scottish Frontline Network, held three workshops as part of its work, exploring homelessness prevention practice with frontline workers from the justice sector, health and social care, and those working with children, families and young people. These sessions explored existing practices and sought to understand the changes that might be needed to enable earlier intervention and better joint-working practices. The group’s final report^[15] was published on 30 August 2023 and details both short and longer term actions, some operational and some strategic, which if taken, could support the implementation of the duties in the future. Critically, the report highlights that although the duties are transformational in nature, significant cross-sector culture change, a shared understanding of the importance of a home rather than a house, funding and training are needed to ensure success. The Scottish Government responded^[16] to this report on 18 December 2023.