Homelessness: policy context

Statutory framework

Anyone in Scotland who applies to their local council is entitled to permanent accommodation if they are homeless or threatened with homelessness in the next 90 days (Housing Scotland Act 1987), as long as they have a connection to the local area and the council decides that they are not intentionally homeless. Permanent accommodation means a social tenancy, or a private tenancy lasting at least 12 months. Previously, a homeless applicant also had to be in ‘priority need’, for instance, due to age, parental responsibilities, or health conditions, but provisions set out in the 2003 Homelessness Act led to the abolition of this requirement in 2012.

"Housing Options" approach to preventing homelessness

In recent years local authorities have adopted an approach called Housing Options which aims to to improve support for people at risk of homelessness and reduce pressure on homelessness services. People who approach a local authority can receive help to identify the options available to them. This can involve proactive support, for example to negotiate with landlords or mediate within family situations. Initial data suggests that in most cases support consists of information giving and signposting, rather than more in depth work (Fitzpatrick et al 2015). In 2016, the Scottish Government and ALACHO (the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers) produced guidance (866Kb) for local authorities to support the use of Housing Options.

Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group

In November 2017, the Scottish Government convened a Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) to provide recommendations to Ministers on the actions and solutions needed to eradicate rough sleeping, transform the use of temporary accommodation, and ultimately end homelessness in Scotland. The Group published their final report in June 2018, entitled 'Ending Homelessness', which made 29 recommendations (Scottish Government 2018). These included recommendations that homelessness must be seen as a public health priority and prioritised as such by all areas of government and the wider public sector, third sector, and community partners.
Subsequent commitments by Scottish Government, as set out in the accompanying Action Plan, include (Fitzpatrick 2019):
  • The introduction of a wide-ranging homelessness prevention duty applicable to local authorities, wider public bodies and delivery partners
  • A national shift towards rapid rehousing as the default approach and in particular the scaling up of Housing First approaches for those with complex needs
  • Revised arrangements on local connection and intentionality as part of statutory entitlements to homelessness support
  • Measures to improve the quality of temporary accommodation and restricting the time spent in bed and breakfasts and other 'unsuitable accommodation'

The HARSAG was reconvened in June 2020 to inform the Scottish Government's policy response to homelessness during and after the coronavirus pandemic: see 'Homelessness and Covid-19' below.

Changes to the benefits system

The benefits system is crucial to protecting people from homelessness, covering housing costs for people with low income and providing income when people are not working. However, major changes ("welfare reform") have reduced the protection available. Their impacts are discussed in a recent paper from ScotPHO entitled 'Pulling in different directions'.

  • Benefit sanctions have serious implications for people’s capacity to avoid or move on from homelessness, as most people have no income for the period of the sanction. Sanctions can apply to claimants on Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA), Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit. A first-time sanction on JSA usually lasts a month, but in some circumstances repeated breaches of conditions may lead to sanctions of up to three years. Homeless people are disproportionately likely to be affected by sanctions (Batty et al 2015). Some people may be eligible for hardship payments because they are particularly vulnerable or are on Employment Support Allowance, but in most cases income is reduced by at least half. In addition, an independent review (566KB) has noted that in some cases housing benefit may be inadvertently stopped.
  • Young people have been severely affected by changes to the benefits system (Fitzpatrick et al 2015). Housing benefit has been restricted for most people under 35, who can now only receive enough housing benefit to pay for shared accommodation (the Shared Accommodation Rate). Other relevant recent changes include the withdrawal of support for housing costs for 18-21 year olds; a cap on the amount of money a household can receive through benefits regardless of number of children; the 'bedroom' tax, a reduction in housing benefit for people living in social rented accommodation with a spare bedroom; and changes in payment arrangements accompanying the roll-out of Universal Credit, though several of these changes have been mitigated in Scotland, for instance through the Scottish Welfare Fund
  • A number of changes to the benefits system during Covid-19 are likely to have provided some protection against homelessness for those at risk, including the UK Government Job Retention ('furlough') scheme, suspensions of benefits sanctions, and temporary increases to the Universal Credit Standard Allowance (Watts et al 2021).

Proposals to strengthen homelessness prevention

The Scottish Government Action Plan on homelessness includes proposals to introduce new homelessness prevention duties on local authorities and other public bodies, including health services (Scottish Government 2020a). A Prevention Review Group recently published its recommendations; next steps include consultation with the public and broader stakeholders. The Scottish Government has signalled its intention to introduce the new prevention duty into legislation during 2022/23 (Scottish Government 2020a).

Health and homelessness

Homelessness is associated with poorer physical and mental health, and higher mortality rates (see the 'Data' section). Poor health can be both a cause and a consequence of homelessness. The Scottish Government issued Health and Homelessness Standards in 2005, which sought to support strategic leadership in health services to address homelessness. However, these are no longer being performance managed, so use and compliance varies across different NHS Board areas. The Scottish Public Health Network published a report in 2015, Restoring the Public Health Response to Homelessness (1.1Mb), which has provided a renewed focus on this area. In addition, NHS Health Scotland hosts a national Health and Homelessness Groupwhich has broad membership from across health, local and national government, academia and the housing and voluntary sectors.

A briefing from NHS Health Scotland on health and homelessness describes the impact of homelessness on health and wellbeing and identifies local and national actions to address the issue. More recently, a national data linkage project has investigated healthcare utilisation and mortality among people applying for local authority homelessness support in Scotland - more details are provided in the 'Data' pages of this section.

Homelessness and the Covid-19 pandemic

Due to concerns about the risks to homeless people from Covid-19, almost all people sleeping rough or staying in congregate accommodation (i.e. shelters or hostels with shared facilities) in Scotland were moved into self-contained accommodation during the initial phase of the pandemic. The Scottish Government also introduced additional protections to prevent evictions from rented accommodation during the pandemic by extending the notice period for tenants of social and private landlords to six months in most cases and three months in instances of anti-social behaviour. As of September 2020, in response to the scheduled expiry of this emergency legislation in September 2020, the Scottish Government has set out plans to continue the current six-month notice extension for a further six months and return the notice period for anti-social or criminal behaviour cases to one month: these proposals are awaiting final parliamentary approval.

The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) was reconvened in June 2020 to provide recommendations to the Scottish Government on tackling homelessness in Scotland following the coronavirus pandemic (Scottish Government 2020b). Recommendations include: ensuring ongoing access to suitable self-contained accommodation so that people are not exposed to coronavirus through rough sleeping or congregate settings; ensuring an immediate flexible supply of affordable housing; extending emergency protection for renters; and strengthening efforts to prevent homelessness. The Scottish Government accepted all recommendations of the HARSAG Covid-19 report in principle - these are reflected in the 'Ending Homelessness Together' updated action plan published in October 2020 (Scottish Government 2020a).

As the pandemic has evolved, the challenge has shifted to obtaining settled housing for those moved into temporary self-contained accommodation, in parallel with a broader policy aspiration to move away from congregate provision (e.g. winter night shelters) (Watts et al 2021).