Housing options (PREVENT1) statistics in Scotland: 2022-23

Approaches for housing support

Housing Options approaches continue to increase in 2022-23 after a previous long-term reduction

Chart 1: Annual Housing Options approaches and open cases as at 31 March, 2014-15 to 2022-23

There were 42,442 approaches (from 40,038 unique households) in 2022-23. This is an increase of 2% compared to 2021-22 and 13% compared to 2020-21. Prior to the pandemic there had been a downward trend in the number of approaches. The latest figure is 33% lower than the start of the data collection in 2014-15.

Many local authorities reported a reduction in approaches in 2020-21 due to remain at home COVID-19 guidelines, limitations in service provision during the pandemic and measures put in place to temporarily extend eviction notice periods and ban home repossessions as well as mortgage payment deferrals.

Open cases have been increasing year on year. These were 7% higher in March 2023 compared to the previous year, and more than double than when collection began in 2014-15. A number of local authorities note that increased workloads of housing officers have impacted on case management leading to cases being open longer. One local authority noted an increase in open cases due to the eviction ban introduced by the cost of living legislation meaning there was a delay in households being able to present as homeless. Additonally, several local authorities have noted that a number of Housing Options cases have been closed, but there has been a delay in submitting the data. These numbers will therefore be revised in due course.

These trends are similar to those observed for homelessness applications.

The vast majority of households made one approach (95%), with less than 1% making three or more.

Increase in approaches were not observed across the board. Indeed, over half (18) of local authorities recorded decreases compared to the previous year.

The largest numerical decrease was in Falkirk, with 945 (51%) fewer approaches – 909 in 2022-23 compared to 1,854 in 2021-22. Falkirk noted this is due to resourcing issues and changes in how they manage Housing Options cases.

In contrast, Glasgow reported the largest numerical increase from 10,819 to 12,107 (12%) compared to last year. They noted increased efforts had been dedicated to homelessness prevention work which also lead to a decrease in the number of homelessness application (4%) and households assessed as homeless (7%).

The national rate of approaches is 157 per 10,000 households, though this varies greatly between local authorities. Glasgow has the highest rate of 370 approaches followed by Perth & Kinross with 340 approaches per 10,000 households. The lowest rate of approaches are recorded in Eilean Siar and Highland (both with a rate of 4 approaches per 10,000 households). The varying rates are likely reflective of local authorities using different approaches to Housing Options services.