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The Scottish government has been told to expand its homelessness prevention efforts by placing duties on public bodies outside of councils and starting interventions six months ahead of a person losing their home.
A report by the Homelessness Prevention Review Group, an independent panel set up at the request of the Scottish government, has laid out a number of new measures which it said could make Scotland a world leader in ending homelessness.
The recommendations include beginning action to prevent homelessness up to six months before someone faces losing their home and widening the responsibility for preventing homelessness to more public bodies.
This means public bodies, such as health services and prisons, should have a duty to ask about people’s housing situation to identify issues at an early stage and act where a problem exists.
If social landlords identify tenants are at risk of homelessness and the landlord is unable to successfully engage with them to sustain their tenancy, the landlord should notify their local authority as soon as possible that there is a risk of homelessness, the report said.
Under the proposals, public bodies would also be urged to work more closely with housing professionals to ensure that people get help early and do not lose their home unnecessarily.
This would ensure that no one leaves an institution, such as a prison or hospital, without somewhere to sleep, the report said.
Governments across the UK have increasingly been placing a focus on homelessness prevention as a way to reduce homelessness, rather than simply intervening once a person has lost their home.
In 2015, the Welsh government introduced legislation placing a statutory duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness. A similar law was introduced by the UK government in England in 2018.
The Scottish government is now being advised by the Homelessness Prevention Review Group to amend its homelessness legislation in a way that builds on developments in Wales and England.
The Homelessness Prevention Review Group was set up in late 2019 to take forward the work done by the Scottish government’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group.
The group’s members include representatives from the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Shelter Scotland and multiple local authorities.
Commenting on the report, Scottish housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “Ending homelessness is a priority for the Scottish government, so I welcome the recommendations in this report, which focuses on the importance of preventing homelessness from happening in the first place.
“The report also highlights the importance of a whole system, person-centred approach to our goal of preventing homelessness, for example through the work of health, education and justice services.
“This report was developed in consultation with frontline workers and people with lived experience of homelessness as well as so many organisations from across the public and third sector, and I want to thank everyone involved.
“Crisis in particular has provided significant resources to this work and I am grateful for the commitment they have shown. I now look forward to working with COSLA [the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities] and all our other partners to discuss how we can put these proposals into action.”
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