Publication - Factsheet
Homelessness Statistics User Group meeting paper: March 2023
Paper for the meeting of the group on 27 March 2023.
Homelessness in Scotland (HiS)
Annual publication
- presents information related to homelessness applications (HL1) and associated temporary accommodation (HL2 and HL3)
- data from 1 April to 31 March
- published in summer (looking to keep at August)
- largest publication
- around 40 pages of text
- ‘main’ tables consisting of 54 worksheets with data tables
- ‘equalities’ tables consisting of 29 worksheets containing breakdowns by age, gender, household type and ethnicity
- provide annual trends over time and local authority breakdowns, where numbers are sufficiently large
- equalities breakdowns provided at national level only
Biannual publication
- presents information related to homelessness applications (HL1) and associated temporary accommodation (HL2 and HL3)
- provide an indication of trends for key aspects of homelessness
- data from 1 April to 30 September
- provide quarterly breakdowns going back ~ 3 years
- extended this time to provide context pre-covid
- published January/February
- smaller than annual, but still substantial!
- around 30 pages of text
- 28 tabs with data tables
- local authority breakdowns
Housing options (PREVENT1) publication
- presents information related to homelessness prevention
- data from 1 April to 31 March
- published autumn (looking to keep at October)
- relatively small
- 10-15 pages of text
- 15 worksheets of data tables
- provide annual trends over time and local authority breakdowns, where numbers are sufficiently large
- data is not comparable between local authorities due to the differing way in which (non-statutory) prevention duties are implemented
Developments
Text
- restructured
- sub-topic areas
- up front section on 'extent of homelessness'
Example summary table
Measure |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
2021/22 |
Change 2020/21 to 2021/22 |
|
Number |
Percent |
||||
Applications |
37,060 |
34,286 |
35,230 |
944 |
3% |
Assessed as homeless |
31,612 |
28,042 |
28,882 |
840 |
3% |
Households in temporary accommodation at 31 March |
11,665 |
13,359 |
13,945 |
586 |
4% |
Open homelessness applications at 31 March |
22,906 |
24,834 |
26,166 |
1,332 |
5% |
- added context
- moved away from reporting the data itself
- provide the overarching ‘story’ of homelessness
- connections between data throughout
- explanations around trends to provide context
- local authority narrative as necessary
- improved accessibility
- streamlined to make more user-friendly
- reduce technical terms
- make more visual, less wordy
- simplified charts
- ‘cleaner’ and more focussed
- ‘active’ titles used for charts
- ‘infographics’
[in supporting document, see an example chart and infographic from the annual HiS publication 2021/22]
New data tables
- live/open cases
- rates
- assessed as homeless
- in temporary accommodation (TA)
- number of people associated with homeless households
- adults
- children
- reassessed as homeless within two to five years
- local connection
- temporary accommodation offers refused
- time
- application to assessment (average)
- total time in TA, households with and without children (banded duration)
- assessment to closure (average)
Other
- definitions
- report data for temporary accommodation based on total use (i.e. once homelessness application closed), rather than up to point in time
- % settled accommodation as an outcome now excludes not known (although both measures available)
- accessibility standards now in place
- colour schemes
- excel functionality and layout
[this item was followed by flash feedback regarding the publications]
- do you like the changes we have made?
- are you content with the timing of publications (Jan/Feb, Aug, Oct)?
- what are your thoughts on the amount of narrative we provide?
- how easy is it to find what you need?
- which publications do you use?
- annual HiS
- main tables
- equalities tables
- biannual HiS
- housing options
- annual HiS
- which elements of the publications do you use?
- text
- tables
- charts
- what level of data are you interested in?
- national figures
- local authority figures
- how do you use published outputs?
- as it exists
- manipulate to produce own outputs
[followed by a breakout session regarding the outputs]
Discussion points
- what narrative could be more useful?
- any additional data tables/analysis that would be useful?
- should effort be concentrated more on text or tables?
- is there anything we could remove/reduce?
- are there any different types of outputs that would be helpful?
Contact
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