Housing First monitoring report: year two quarter one
Housing First quarterly monitoring: April- June 2022
Data collected by the Scottish Government confirms that an estimated 1,224 Housing First tenancies have started across Scotland at 30 June 2022.[1] This report captures data for Housing First tenancies which started from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2022. Prior to this date, data on Housing First tenancies in the pathfinder areas was independently assessed and published here.
Key points
- A total of 73 new Housing First tenancies started between 1 April and 30 June 2022. A further 28 tenancies had begun between April 2021 and March 2022 which had not been captured in previous reports. This brings the total number of Housing First tenancies which started since 1 April 2021 to 419.
- There are currently 400 Housing First tenancies: 19 tenancies have ended; 34 tenancies are in the ‘step down’ phase, and six are in the ‘stand down’ phase.[2]
- Within the 400 Housing First tenancies there are 409 adults and 31 children. Additionally, 41 households had access to 59 children but do not have full-time custody.
- Between 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2022, it has taken an average of 201 days for a Housing First participant to move into a permanent tenancy from the referral date.
- 29% of Housing First participants move into their tenancy within 50 days.
- 97% of Housing First households are single people.
- 40% of participants are aged 35-49.
- 69% of participants are receiving support from the third and independent sector.
Seven Housing First participants are employed on a full time or part time basis, and seven work on a voluntary basis.
Housing First across Scotland
From responses received through the monitoring framework, 24 local authorities are operating a Housing First programme at 30 June 2022. A further three local authorities are currently developing Housing First programmes, due to start during 2022/23.
The remaining five local authorities are not currently planning on delivering a Housing First programme due to scale or they have an alternative support programme in place.
This monitoring report captures Housing First tenancies which have begun across all 24 local authorities who are currently delivering Housing First.
Tenancies
73 new Housing First tenancies started across 19 local authorities between 1 April and 30 June 2022. An additional 28 tenancies began between April 2021 and March 2022 which had not been previously captured in this monitoring framework. This brings the total number of Housing First tenancies started to 419 between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2022. All tenants have moved into a permanent tenancy and are not in temporary accommodation. 19 tenancies have now ended; 34 people have now moved into the ‘step down’ phase; and a further six are in the ‘stand down’ phase of Housing First.
Table A: Total number of tenancies started in each local authority between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2022
Local Authority Number of Tenancies
Scotland 419
Glasgow City 53
Aberdeenshire 43
Renfrewshire 36
West Dunbartonshire 32
North Lanarkshire 31
Midlothian 27
North Ayrshire 25
Dundee City 18
Falkirk 18
Aberdeen City 17
Fife 16
City of Edinburgh 16
Stirling 15
South Lanarkshire 14
Inverclyde 12
Dumfries & Galloway 8
Angus 7
South Ayrshire 7
Western Isles 6
West Lothian 6
East Ayrshire 5
Scottish Borders 5
East Lothian <5 [3]
Highland <5
Information was gathered on whether or not households had a homelessness application (HL1) and/or Housing Options (PREVENT1) approach recorded. Data shows that 90% of Housing First participants had a homelessness application, and 66% had a Housing Options approach recorded.
Household Characteristics
The data for this section is based on the main Housing First participant in ‘live’, ‘step down’ or ‘stand down’ tenancies which began between 1 April 2021 and 30 June 2022.
Gender
Across the 400 ‘live’, ‘step down’ or ‘stand down’ tenancies, 66% of the main Housing First tenants are male and 34% are female.[4]
Chart 1: The household composition of Housing First tenancies. [5]
Single Male 64%
Single Female 31%
Single Parent- Female 2%
Other 1.5%
Couple 1.5%
95% of Housing First households are single people.
The ‘Other’ category includes ‘Single Parent- Male’ and ‘Other’. An individual breakdown of these two categories is not currently possible due to the small number of people within each.
Residing within the 400 households were 409 adults. Within 19 Housing First tenancies there are 31 children. Additionally, 41 households had access to 59 children but do not have full-time custody.
Age
Chart 2: Age of main Housing First participant at tenancy start date.
16-17 2%
18-24 19%
25-34 28%
35-49 40%
50-64 12%
Due to the increasing number of Housing First tenancies across Scotland, we are now able to provide a more detailed breakdown of age in comparison to previous monitoring reports. We can now report that two percent of Housing First participants are 16 or 17 years of age. There are no Housing First participants over the age of 65.
Ethnicity
Chart 3: Ethnicity of the main Housing First tenant
White Scottish 92.5%
Other British 3.5%
Other ethnic group 2.5%
White British 1.5%
There is a slightly greater proportion of Housing First participants who are ‘White British’ than ‘Other ethnic group’, compared to the previous quarterly monitoring report. As the number of Housing First participants increases, we hope to provide a more detailed breakdown of ethnicity.
Sexual orientation
Chart 4: Sexual orientation of the main Housing First tenant
Heterosexual/ Straight 52%
Don’t know 34%
Prefer not to say 11%
Bi-Sexual 2%
Gay/Lesbian 1%
Local authorities have been asked to collect information on the sexual orientation of the main Housing First participant. Due to this data not being collected in some local authorities and the potentially sensitive nature of this question, many responses were initially recorded as unknown as participants build up confidence with support workers to provide this information. The proportion of ‘Don’t know’ or ‘Prefer not to say’ responses have decreased from 60% during the first quarterly report (April 2021 to June 2021), to 45% during this quarter. This decrease may be testament to the development of relationships with Housing First support staff.
Disability
Chart 5: Proportion of Housing First participants with a disability.
No 67.5%
Yes 23%
Don’t know 7.8%
Prefer not to say 1.8%
The majority of Housing First participants reported that they do not have a disability. However, approximately 10% of responses to this question are ‘Don’t know’ or Prefer not to say’. In contrast to ‘sexual orientation’, the proportion of ‘Don’t know’ or ‘Prefer not to say’ responses remain stable.
Housing First tenancies
For tenancies which have begun since 1 April 2021, the average length of time between participants being referred for Housing First support and being offered a permanent tenancy is 177 days across the 24 local authorities. This has increased from 157 days in the previous quarterly report. The average time from referral to their permanent tenancy starting has also increased in this reporting period from 181 to 201 days. These figures have continued to rise over the last six month reporting period.
Chart 6: Tenancy type of ‘live’, ‘step down’ or ‘stand down’ tenancies
LA Tenancy 72%
RSL 26%
PRS 3%
Of the 400 ‘live’, ‘step down’ or ‘stand down’ tenancies, the proportion of local authority tenancies has decreased slightly from 75% to 72% over a six month period. Registered social landlords (RSLs) have provided a slightly greater proportion of Housing First tenancies (26% during this quarter, compared to 25% during the previous quarter). 12 tenancies have begun in either the private rented sector (PRS) or ‘Other’, representing three per cent of the total number of tenancies.
Information received from some local authorities shows that in some areas temporary accommodation is converted or ‘flipped’ into permanent Housing First tenancies. Housing First support has also been used as a homelessness prevention method in some local authority areas.
Chart 7: Banded national average in days to access a permanent tenancy from referral date
0-50 29%
51-100 16%
101-150 12%
151-200 9%
201-250 6%
251-300 5%
301-350 5%
351-450 7%
451-550 2%
551-650 2%
651-750 2%
751+ 5%
Chart 7 shows that 29% of Housing First participants move into their tenancies within 50 days. This is a slight decrease from the previous quarter when 30% moved into their tenancy within 50 days. The proportion of participants waiting over 350 days has also continued to increase from 15% (April 2021 to March 2022) to 18% (April 2021 to June 2022). This average has been calculated on a national basis due to the small number of tenancies in some local authority areas at present.
Referral Route
Chart : Referral route of Housing First participants.
Homelessness application 53%
Area housing office 16%
Other 11%
Addiction referral 6%
Criminal Justice System 6%
Third Sector 5%
Prison 4%
Through-care/ after-care 1%
Homelessness applications continue to be the main referral route into Housing First
Employment Status
Seven Housing First participants are currently employed on either a full time or part time basis. In addition, seven participants currently undertake voluntary work.
Housing First support
The data for this section is based on the main Housing First participant in 360 tenancies where support continues to be provided, and the tenancy is ‘live’. This excludes tenancies which are in the ‘step down’ or ‘stand down’ phase.
Local authorities were asked to record the support that each Housing First participant is currently receiving or has previously received. Given the small numbers in a number of categories, information on ‘current’ and ‘previous’ support needs have been combined for disclosure control purposes. We expect this to become more robust over time and to be able to separate out previous support needs.
Chart 9: Proportion of Housing First participants with support needs.
Learning Disability 9%
Personal Care 11%
Sexual Health 17%
Literacy 30%
Other 30%
Exploitation 40%
Physical Health 48%
Alcohol 50%
Advocacy 55%
Social Isolation 61%
Criminal Activity 66%
Safety/Security 70%
Drugs 75%
Mental Health 83%
Accessing Benefits 85%
Upkeep of Tenancy 88%
Budgeting 89%
Resettlement 91%
General Housing Support 98%
Chart 9 shows the proportion of participants who were recorded as having a ‘current’ or ‘previous’ support need across 19 categories.
Local authorities were also asked to record areas where support was required, but not provided, for Housing First participants across the same 19 categories. Proportionally fewer Housing First participants have an unmet support need across learning disability and literacy, but two per cent more participants require mental health support which is not provided. However, as the number of participants who have an unmet support need increases above five, we are able to give a more details breakdown of the areas which are lacking in support provision, as shown in Chart 9.
Chart 10: Proportion of Housing First participants with support needs which are not catered for.
Other 3%
Budgeting 3%
Drugs 3%
Literacy 3%
Learning Disability 3%
Mental Health 2%
Alcohol 2%
Exploitation 2%
Physical Health 2%
Sexual Health 2%
Personal Care 2%
Social Isolation 2%
Upkeep of Tenancy 1%
Criminal Activity 1%
Advocacy 1%
The ‘Other’ category includes Housing First participants who have unmet support needs across ‘Safety/ Security’, ‘Accessing Benefits’, ‘Resettlement’ and ‘Other’ categories. Due to the small numbers within each area, we are unable to provide a more detailed breakdown.
Chart 11: Housing First participants with current multiple support needs.
Support 1-5 Areas 10%
Support 6-10 Areas 50%
Support 11-15 Areas 35%
Support 16+ Areas 5%
Support intensity has slightly decreased from the last quarter, with three per cent fewer participants requiring six to ten areas of support, and three percent more participants requiring between one and five areas of support.
Chart 12: Housing First participants receiving support from each provider, compared with the previous quarterly data.
Year 2 Quarter 1 Year 1 Quarter 4
Third and Independent Sector 69% 70%
Health and Social Care Partnerships 55% 55%
Alcohol and Drugs Partnership 54% 54%
Mental Health Service 40% 44%
Other 25% 28%
Peer Support 12% 15%
Chart 12 shows a breakdown of the services involved in delivering support to Housing First tenancies. When compared to the data reported in the previous quarter, ‘Mental Health Services’ are involved in the care of comparatively fewer Housing First participants during this quarter. Similarly, ‘Peer Support’ is in place for comparatively fewer Housing First participants. As the number of Housing First participants grows across Scotland, a more detailed breakdown of the ‘other’ category will be provided.
Chart 13: Housing First participants receiving support from multiple support providers.
0 Support Providers 3%
1 Support Provider 30%
2 Support Providers 17%
3 Support Providers 20%
4 Support Providers 17%
5 Support Providers 9%
6+ Support Providers 3%
Informal support was also provided for 43% of Housing First participants.
Chart 13 provides detail of the number of partners providing Housing First support. In 30% of Housing First tenancies, support was provided solely by one provider, likely where a local authority has undertaken a procurement exercise to commission Housing First support from an external provider. Three per cent of participants were recorded as having no support provider. However, a proportion receive informal support.
[1] Housing First tenancies which started as part of the Housing First Pathfinder programme from September 2021 have been included in this figure.
[2] The ‘step down’ process involves agreement from the tenant and lead support worker that support is no longer required and a regular check-up process is agreed so that support can re-engage if required. The ‘stand down’ stage occurs when Housing First support is no longer required.
[3] Figures have been rounded to the nearest five for disclosure control purposes.
[4] This figure includes less than five tenants who have an ‘other’ gender identify.
[5] Percentages are provided to one decimal place where appropriate.
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