Homelessness prevention duties: equality impact assessment results

The Scope of the EQIA

This Equality Impact Assessment gives consideration to the impact of the introduction of the legislation on people who have one or more protected characteristics, namely age, disability, gender reassignment, sex, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, and marriage and civil partnership.

In developing this EQIA, the Scottish Government is mindful of the three requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty. Where any negative impacts have been identified, the Scottish Government has sought to mitigate these. This EQIA outlines how the prevention duties could have a positive and negative impact on one or more of the protected characteristics.

A variety of sources were used in compiling this impact assessment, including:

• Responses to the joint Scottish Government and COSLA public consultation on the Prevention of Homelessness Duties;
• Scottish Homelessness Statistics;
• Scottish Core Questions and ONS data;
• Stakeholder engagement;
• Engagement with the people with lived experience, via the Change Team;
• Time-limited task and finish groups set up by the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) to help implement the joint Scottish Government/COSLA Ending Homelessness Together Action Plan, including one tasked with identifying the best way to prepare for the introduction of the new prevention duties;
• Evidence/papers from academic sources and those compiled by third sector experts such as Scottish Women's Aid, Engender, Rock Trust.