Measuring Impact Task and Finish Group: final report and recommendations

1. Introduction

1.1 About this report

This report provides the background and context to a new framework to measure the impact of the Ending Homelessness Together Plan and includes recommendations on how to implement it effectively in the short-medium term.

The new framework, called the Ending Homelessness Together Monitor, is provided as a supplement to this report.

1.2 About the development phase

This report and the Ending Homelessness Together Monitor were co-developed by the Measuring Impact Task and Finish Group incrementally between November 2022 and November 2023. The group (membership at appendix i) was appointed by the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) to deliver:

• An outcome focused framework with indicators to measure the impact of the Ending Homelessness Together Plan.
• An overview of evidence and data sources that will be used (or needed).
• Recommendations on how to implement and report on the framework.
• Recommendations for improvements to equalities evidence.

The criteria to select indicators to measure the outcomes in the Ending Homelessness Together Monitor draw on international best practice and are the criteria used by Scottish Government to monitor key policy areas, including the National Performance Framework [ref 1] and Wellbeing Economy Monitor [ref 2].

Evaluation Support Scotland and Homeless Network Scotland also facilitated a series of groundwork sessions with key stakeholders between April and August 2022 to scope the parameters and refine the task for the Task and Finish group.

1.3 About the Ending Homelessness Together Plan

The Ending Homelessness Together High-Level Action Plan (EHT Plan) [ref 3] is a joint Scottish Government and COSLA plan published in 2018 and updated in 2020. It sets out how national and local government and third sector partners will work together to end homelessness.

The key themes in the EHT Plan reflect the recommendations made by the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) in 2018 [ref 4]. HARSAG was set up to recommend to Scottish Government Ministers the actions needed to eradicate rough sleeping and transform the use of temporary accommodation in Scotland.

Since 2020, Scottish Government has reported annually to the Scottish Parliament on the progress of priority actions set out in the EHT Plan [ref 5]. The Task and Finish Group was established because Scottish Government and partners wanted to improve reporting so that the focus was on measurable outcomes instead of activity and practice examples.

1.4 Corresponding Strategies and Statistics

Statutory homelessness in Scotland has a broad definition and each experience of it is unique. It can impact on many aspects of someone’s life, including health and wellbeing, relationships, education, employment and on ability to travel and have digital access.

Consequently, almost all social policy and strategy, and their related monitoring frameworks, connect to varying extents with the objectives of the EHT Plan. The National Framework for Housing First summarises the range of connected strategy and policy frameworks [ref 24].

The overarching frameworks that the EHT Plan is currently aligned with are:

• The vision and values of Scotland’s National Performance Framework [ref 1].
• A wellbeing economy, which recognises the importance of delivering not just economic, but human and ecological wellbeing [ref 2].
• Housing to 2040, which sets out a vision for housing in Scotland and a route-map which sets the overarching strategy for housing in Scotland [ref 25]. Housing to 2040 commits to, but does not yet have, a published monitoring framework.

It is also significantly important to underline that the housing sector does not have all the levers to end homelessness. By including a strong focus on causation and using evidence on the factors that drive homelessness and housing demand in Scotland, we can better demonstrate how they interplay with progress of the EHT Plan. Therefore, the new EHT Monitor will reach beyond existing homelessness and housing data to include:

• A new core data set relating to the upcoming duties to prevent homelessness across the wider public sector, as specified in the upcoming Housing Bill.
• Data from 4 external statistical frameworks to demonstrate the links between homelessness, housing supply and reducing poverty as follows:

Lever

The Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP): increasing housing supply to meet demand.

Progress toward the Scottish Government commitment of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032. At least 70% for social rent and 10% will be in rural and island communities.

Data Source

Scottish Government’s Housing Statistics for Scotland: New Housebuilding and Affordable Housing Supply [data source 1]

Lever

Reducing Poverty in Scotland: The main driver of homelessness.

The most commonly used poverty threshold is 60% of the median household (not individual) income. Poverty is measured before and after housing costs. Scottish Government combines data sources to report on poverty in Scotland.

Data Source

Scottish Government National Statistics: Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland [data source 2]

Lever

Reducing Child Poverty in Scotland: A key predictor of homelessness in later life.

Target to reduce relative child poverty to less than 10% and absolute child poverty to less than 5%. To reduce low income and material deprivation to less than 5%.

Data Source

Scottish Government National Statistics: Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland [data source 2]

Lever

Reducing shortfall between UK welfare benefits and housing costs in Scotland.

Through Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP), Scottish Government aims to redress the shortfall between UK welfare benefits and housing costs, including housing benefit and mitigating the bedroom tax and benefit cap. The Scottish Welfare Fund can provide Community Care Grants, which help people live independently, and Crisis Grants, a safety net in a disaster or emergency.

Data Source

Scottish Government Social Security Statistics: Discretionary Housing Payment [data source 20] and Scottish Welfare Fund [data source 23]

Lever

Prevention duties on the wider public sector, to be specified in the upcoming Housing Bill.

Crisis convened a Prevention Review Group to make recommendations [ref 27] on new duties to prevent homelessness earlier and across the wider public sector. In 2022, Scottish Government confirmed they will develop legislative provisions for inclusion in the upcoming Housing Bill.

Data Source

Core dataset for the new prevention duties to be confirmed.

[data source 15: source tbc].

1.5 What matters to people?

How homelessness is measured and reported matters to many people who experience homelessness. We acknowledge with thanks the people who have shaped this work through two programmes from which the following priorities emerged:

a. Aye We Can

Aye We Can [ref 6] is one of Scotland’s largest consultations with people currently using homelessness services. It was facilitated by Homeless Network Scotland as part of HARSAG during 2017-18 to inform and influence recommendations. 425 people took part in discussion groups, surveys and 1:1 interviews.

Six priorities emerged – among them, to improve how homelessness is counted. People reported that they had experienced or witnessed hidden homelessness and rough sleeping that is not counted. And wanted data used in a better way to identify people who could be helped earlier to prevent their homelessness.

The ‘Aye We Can’ strapline came from Poverty Alliance Challenge Poverty Week, with its roots in two Frameworks Institute projects: Talking about Poverty [ref 7] led by Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Reframing Homelessness [ref 8] led by Crisis.

b. All in For Change

Scottish Government were committed to continuing a platform for lived experience and All in For Change was launched in December 2019. Facilitated by Homeless Network Scotland and Cyrenians, the Change Team are committed to blending the expertise of academics, policy makers, frontline workers and people with lived experience [ref 9].

The Task and Finish group invited the Change Team to help define what person-centred services are. The following priorities mattered to the Change Team:

• It is the responsibility of a monitoring framework to use ‘people-first’ language and definitions that are sensitive to how people define and express themselves. People-first is a language etiquette which puts the person before their circumstances, characteristics or conditions. It is intended to address conscious or implicit bias and to avoid marginalising, categorising or labelling people. For example, a person who is facing homelessness, rather than a homeless person.
• A method should be developed for services to demonstrate that they are strengths based and trauma informed. But this focus should not override material needs, such as problem debt and financial hardship.
• People need to work within an empowering environment so they can support others. This work is challenged by service capacity and referral routes, high caseload levels and by low pay that can lead to stress, vicarious trauma and burnout. Staff retention and recruitment is a significant issue affecting the social care sector overall, within and beyond Scotland.