Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish Group: final report and recommendations

Appendix 5: The Financing of Temporary Accommodation

The Temporary Accommodation Task and Finish group's final substantive meeting discussed the issue of financing and affordability TA. The Task and Finish group believe this area requires further work and suggest the Scottish Government and COSLA work together to see how to best take this conversation forward.

Affordability is one of the seven elements of the UN right to adequate housing. For the right to be fully realised in Scotland, and to prevent people from building up debt or being stuck in a poverty trap facing high charges if they take up employment, TA should be affordable for all households.

We recommend that the Scottish Government should set up a working group to take forward the work which this group has done to examine financing and the cost of TA.

Recommendations 14 and 15 made by the Task and Finish group cover some ground on TA financing, outlining that there should be a benchmarking process and greater transparency on TA charges, and that guidance should more clearly define the terms 'reasonable charge' and 'affordable'. Further, the Task and Finish group supports the HARSAG principles of approach to TA funding as outlined in appendix 6.

Additional longer-term solutions which could be explored by the working group include:

• Consideration of setting TA rents at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) equivalent, and phasing funding towards making TA free at the point of use by restructuring the funding model of TA.
• The 2014 Scottish Government review of TA financing^[29] is refreshed, working with COSLA and the third sector, and is then brought back to HPSG in 2024.