Housing (Scotland) Bill: equality impact assessment results summary

Background

The Bill is ambitious in responding to the need to improve the housing outcomes in Scotland for people who live mainly in rented accommodation or face homelessness. At the same time, it continues to safeguard the proportionate use of a landlord’s property for rental purposes, seeking to deliver a fair balance between protection for tenants and the rights of landlords.

The Bill contains a package of reforms which will help ensure people have a safe, secure, and affordable place to live. It also helps to deliver the Scottish Government’s ‘New Deal for Tenants’^[3] and some aspects of ‘Housing to 2040’^[4], while contributing to the ambition to end homelessness in Scotland.

Further information about the background and the policy intention behind the Bill is set out in the Policy Memorandum which accompanies the Bill. The Bill, Policy Memorandum and other accompanying documents are available from the Scottish Parliament website^[5]. Where available, more detailed information has also been published on the assessment of policy specific impacts on the Scottish Government website. Links to those publications are included within this document under each specific policy.

The Bill content has been informed by significant public and stakeholder engagement, including but not limited to engagement with tenants; private and social landlords; housing investors; third sector organisations; local authorities; and public bodies. Policy proposals within the Bill have also been informed by engagement with six working groups; three public consultations^[6]; and a ‘Landlord and tenant engagement questionnaire on rented sector reform’^[7]. Feedback provided throughout this engagement process has been considered within the EQIA.

Equality impacts have also specifically been discussed during engagement with stakeholders such as: people with lived experience, via the Change Team; and time-limited task and finish groups set up by the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG).

Further information on our engagement is also set out within the Policy Memorandum.