WIREDGOV

Five per cent fall in homelessness applications.

The number of people becoming homeless in Scotland is falling, according to official statistics published today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician.

Around 7,900 homelessness applications were received by Scottish councils between October and December 2014, five per cent lower than in the same period in 2013.

In addition to the fall in applications, the number assessed as homeless, or likely to become homeless within two months, fell by one per cent to around 6,800.

Where contact was maintained, four out of five individuals assessed as unintentionally homeless went on to secure settled accommodation such as council housing, housing association or private lets.

This proportion has remained stable for the past seven years. In recent years, the focus has been on the housing options approach to homelessness prevention by local authorities and their partners.

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess said:

“Preventing people in Scotland from experiencing the misery of homelessness is a priority for the Scottish Government.

“We welcome these figures that show we are continuing to make significant progress to reduce homelessness in Scotland.

“Rather than only accepting a homelessness application councils are working with employability, mental health, money advice and family mediation services to prevent homelessness happening in the first place.

“The housing options approach, already backed by Scottish Government investment of £950,000 and a commitment of a further £150,000 for 2015/16, has helped local authorities embrace prevention of homelessness in recent years.

“We will carry on working closely with local authorities and their partners to prevent homelessness, increase the number of affordable homes and address the issue of empty homes, while looking to minimise the use of temporary accommodation.

“In some cases people have to access temporary accommodation. While the vast majority of it good quality, well-managed social housing for households waiting to move to more settled accommodation, clearly we want the time spent there to be as short as possible.

“The Scottish Government’s Housing Voluntary Grant Scheme has also allowed third sector organisations, such as Age Scotland, Scottish Women’s Aid and Shelter Scotland, to develop projects that prevent homelessness.

“In addition to this we are also investing over £1.7 billion to deliver 30,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of this Parliament, working with local authorities to build record numbers of council houses and have abolished the Right to Buy to protect up to 15,500 social homes from sale over the next ten years. Increasing the supply of housing, combined with prevention activity, will help us continue to make progress in the future.”

Notes To Editors

In November 2012 the Scottish Parliament approved the Homelessness (Abolition of Priority Need Test) (Scotland) Order 2012.

This ensures that local authorities no longer apply the priority need test to homeless households. As a result all unintentionally homeless households in Scotland are entitled to settled accommodation.

The Operation of the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland statistical publication is available at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/homelessstats