Homelessness in Scotland: update to 30 September 2016

Assessments

( Table 1, Chart 2 and Chart 3)

Overall assessments

Between 1 April and 30 September 2016, Local Authorities in Scotland assessed 17,332 homelessness applications. Of these 14,124 (81%) were assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness, 686 (4%) were assessed as not homeless and 809 (5%) had their homelessness resolved before the assessment was made. There were 1,713 (10%) applications where contact was lost before assessment, the application was withdrawn or the applicant was ineligible for assistance. Compared with the same period one year ago, the proportion of cases assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness has remained stable at around 82%.

From 31st December 2012 onwards, the distinction between priority need and non-priority need applications was abolished. Chart 2 shows the figures, over time.

Chart 2: Homelessness assessments in Scotland, from April to June (Q2), 2002

To note, prior to 31st December 2012, the priority need category included:

• unintentionally homeless and in priority need;
• intentionally homeless and in priority need;
• unintentionally potentially homeless and in priority need; and
• intentionally potentially homeless and in priority need.

Intentionality

Cases assessed as homeless (or threatened with homelessness) are also tested as to whether they made themselves homeless intentionally. If an applicant has made themselves intentionally homeless, they are not entitled to settled accommodation.

They are only entitled to be housed in temporary accommodation for a reasonable period of time, and be given advice and assistance.

At the Scotland level, between 1 April and 30 September 2016, there were 816 intentionality decisions, and this was a decrease of 19 decisions compared with the same period one year earlier (see Table 1 , Table 5 and Chart 3). Overall, the proportion of cases assessed as intentionally homeless has generally increased at a national level over the last decade (see Chart 3). However, comparing April to September 2016 with the same period one year ago, the proportion of intentionally homeless has remained the same at 5.8% ( Table 1 ).

Chart 3: Percentage of cases assessed as intentionally homeless in Scotland, from July to September (Q3), 2002

Table 5 shows that, between 1 April and 30 September 2016, there is a high proportion of intentionally homeless assessments in a number of Local Authorities - the highest proportions were in Falkirk (15.9%), North Lanarkshire and Moray (11.6% respectively).