Scottish Government

SECTION 1 - PROGRESS WITH DELIVERY

3. This section records progress against the Homelessness Task Force's recommendations in the period since our last report. In particular, the following key developments should be highlighted:

• The Ministerial Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need was consulted on and then published in December 2005. This set out the measures which have been and will be taken to achieve the legislative target that all unintentionally homeless people will be entitled to permanent accommodation by 2012. The Statement contained a series of interim objectives - including an administrative target that local authorities should reduce the proportion of non-priority assessments by 50% by 2009.
• Local authorities have carried out an assessment of their current position as regards capacity to achieve the 2012 target and the indicators which will be used to measure progress have been set out.
• A revised Code of Guidance on Homelessness was published by the Scottish Executive - taking account of changes in legislation and research evidence.
• Communities Scotland published a report on the findings from their Pathfinder inspections of 5 local authorities, to highlight the key themes that emerged on services for homeless people, and from the inspections of 22 RSLs on their contribution to alleviating homelessness. Communities Scotland carried out 21 individual inspections during the reporting period. A public consultation is currently underway on the agency's approach to regulation and inspection in social housing.
• A symposium has been held to bring together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the future of housing advice services in prisons. The MoD has also sponsored an awareness raising symposium in Scotland to ensure that local authorities and others are aware of the assistance which is available for ex-service personnel.
• The National Rent Deposit Forum Development Officer (Scotland) has provided support and advice to rent deposit schemes in Scotland through networking meetings, training, research and dissemination of information.
• New arrangements have been put in place for the New Futures Fund. From April 2006 Community Planning Partnerships will take the lead in developing the local infrastructure of support services, building on the work of existing New Futures funded projects and other support services in their areas.
• DWP has published A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work, marking the beginning of national debate on the future direction of welfare reform.
• A two-year pilot project targeting homeless households in temporary accommodation is underway in the east London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Newham. The project (Working Future ¹) combines measures to tackle the benefits trap created by high rents with targeted assistance to overcome other barriers to employment.
• National Performance Standards for housing benefit administration have been revised to focus more clearly on outcomes and the key enablers that support delivery, and local authorities continue to improve their performance against the standards.
• A revised Key Performance Indicator on rent arrears has been introduced in the Accounts Commission Direction for 2006/07.
• Research on single room rent has been published by DWP.
• A series of regional seminars on the importance of social networks were organised by the Scottish Social Networks Co-ordinator and a report of proceedings published.
• A review of the HL1 data collection system has been undertaken and the revised proforma is currently being piloted.

4. The rest of this section lists the progress made against each suite of Homelessness Task Force recommendations. A more detailed progress report covering all 59 of the recommendations, and setting out future action required against each, is published separately as an appendix to this report.

Legislation

5. Following an extensive consultation exercise, the Ministerial Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need was published on 21 December 2005. ² This stated that the abolition of priority need would proceed by way of an administrative target to reduce the proportion of non-priority assessments by 50% by 2009 and set out a series of interim objectives towards the 2012 target.

6. The 2012 planning subgroup played a major part in pulling together the information which underpinned the Statement and was published alongside it in a technical annex ³. A pro-forma was developed which asked local authorities to state their current and projected position in relation to homelessness applications and assessments; levels of lets required to meet this demand; level of lets available; information on support needs; and wider housing need. Tribal HCH were commissioned to analyse the results - this analysis was published in August alongside the consultation paper on the content of the Statement. ⁴ The technical annex draws on this information and sets it alongside trend based modelling to consider two possible future scenarios. See paragraphs 52-59 of this report for further details.

7. Research work relating to the accommodation and support needs of intentionally homeless households has been ongoing throughout the course of the year and has been overseen by the Intentionality subgroup - the final report will be published shortly and will inform our view as to the implementation timetable for sections 4-6 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003. A small number of authorities have been funded by the Scottish Executive's Justice Department during the course of the year to develop 'Breaking the Cycle' pilot projects - providing accommodation and support for families with a history of anti-social behaviour - and the lessons learned from these may also be of relevance to implementation.

8. Changes to the local connection provisions within homelessness legislation will be consulted on and brought into force during the course of this year. The consultation material will take account of our discussions on this issue. The Scottish Executive is also currently holding a series of meetings with stakeholders to consider further some of the key issues identified during the consultation on draft regulations under section 7 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and will take forward work on implementation of section 11 of the 2003 Act which requires landlords and lenders to inform local authorities of impending homelessness.

9. Statistics relating to compliance with the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004 were published for the first time on 28 March 2006 - further details are contained at paragraph 45 of this report.

Culture and training

10. As in previous years, members of the Monitoring Group and delivery partners have been involved in a number of activities designed to raise awareness of homelessness and identify and disseminate good practice. In particular, the Awareness Raising and Best Practice subgroup has been formed and has:

• Overseen the development of a study into knowledge, understanding and views of homelessness carried out by the Chartered Institute of Housing, which will be published shortly.
• Advised on the scope of the pilot study into the implementation of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004.
• Advised on the drawing up of a specification for research into the efficacy of activity being carried out by local authorities to prevent homelessness.

11. An updated version of the Code of Guidance on Homelessness was distributed by the Scottish Executive in May 2005 ⁵. A new loose-leaf and web format was used to facilitate easier use by practitioners and future updates. The Awareness Raising and Best Practice subgroup will have a key role in considering the most effective ways in which to identify and disseminate good practice and to develop the suite of new/updated guidance which was referred to in the Ministerial Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need. Many local authorities have held local events to raise awareness within their communities and the consultation on the Statement also provided useful opportunities to engender political debate. ⁶

12. Inspections carried out by Communities Scotland check the extent to which service users are involved in improving services - to date inspections indicate varied practice across local authorities but do identify positive practices in some areas. More broadly, inspections have revealed a similar picture in relation to the promotion of values, attitudes and behaviours which deliver responsive and personalised services. Good practice noted included the development of a customer charter for homelessness and a positive approach to person centred interviews, however weaknesses were also identified relating to approaches based on rationing entitlement rather than identifying solutions and placing the onus on homeless people to provide proof for assessments for example. ⁷

13. The Scottish Housing Best Value Network has piloted and evaluated a peer review programme for homelessness services which included service users as part of the review teams. Feedback from the service users involved has been positive and the Network intend to continue this aspect of the process in the reviews which are carried out in future. An evaluation of the peer review pilot has been published. ⁸

14. Scotland hosted the Homeless World Cup during July 2005. This provided an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the issues faced by homeless people and to challenge some of the stereotypes and stigma attached to homelessness and we would encourage delivery partners to consider similar opportunities.

Housing Policy

15. The Ministerial Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need reiterates that the supply of, and access to, appropriate and affordable housing is fundamental if homelessness is to be prevented and tackled effectively. As is outlined above, a significant amount of analytical work has been undertaken this year to begin a dialogue with local authorities regarding the specific implications of the 2012 target for their area. The Executive has commissioned Professor Bramley to update his previous work on housing need ⁹ and Newhaven Consultants to develop a local affordable housing pro-forma which will provide a consistent method of assessing need across Scotland. Communities Scotland is currently consulting on the Scottish Housing Investment Framework, including seeking views as to how the distribution mechanism for funding under the Affordable Housing Investment Programme should reflect the implications of the 2012 target.

16. Issues relating to the allocation of social housing to homeless people were prominent throughout the consultation on the Ministerial Statement - and were particularly highlighted by MSPs and local elected members. In response the Statement contained a commitment to consider further clarification of the existing guidance on allocations and to carry out further research. Research into the applicant's experience of allocations is currently being carried out by Dudleston Harkins Social Research and a specification for research looking at the tensions between allocations policy and practice is being developed. We recognise that there may be tensions between good practice in relation to allocations and the provision of temporary accommodation and will offer advice on the basis of further information on lettings and temporary accommodation which will provided to us during the course of this year.

17. The fourth of the large homeless hostels in Glasgow is due to close in July 2006, and numbers of single homeless applications and repeat applications continue to decrease in the city. The wide range of tailored support packages being put in place, and accommodation provided by GHA and other RSLs, are allowing more former hostel residents and those being diverted from hostel accommodation to achieve positive outcomes in their housing situations.

18. The national furniture grant scheme continues to meet its target of providing 1000 furnished tenancies a year. We have considered the scheme during the course of this year and have recommended that it be continued for the 2006-07 financial year but that the operation of the scheme be considered further with a view to ensuring that it is meeting the Task Force's objectives in the most effective way. Funding for 2006-07 has been identified and has been allocated to local authorities.

19. Access to a rent deposit guarantee scheme is not currently available in all local authorities throughout Scotland as a small number of schemes are currently being redeveloped. The National Rent Deposit Forum Co-ordinator (Scotland) continues to work with local authorities to offer support and guidance on schemes, and we will maintain an interest to ensure that universal access is available.

Benefits

20. We noted last year that there was a need to consider progress against the suite of recommendations relating to DWP/Jobcentre Plus activity in the context of the wider work being undertaken by these agencies, in order that these recommendations could be taken forward in the most appropriate manner. Officials from DWP and Jobcentre Plus attended our November 2005 meeting and have subsequently provided further information pertinent to the recommendations.

21. There have been a number of significant developments over the course of the year - including the establishment of the Working Future pilot ¹⁰ and the publication of A New Deal for Welfare: Empowering People to Work ¹¹, marking the beginning of a national debate on the future direction of welfare reform - which highlight the continued need for a focus on benefits issues over the coming year. We are pleased to note recent improvements in the administration of Housing Benefit - with 21 Scottish authorities meeting the Performance Standard for processing new claims in the second quarter of 2005/06 and the average number of days taken to process new claims improving by over 3 weeks from 2002/03 to the first half of 2005/06 - and will take an interest in monitoring whether these are sustained.

Action to Prevent Homelessness

Evictions

22. Following on from the publication of Communities Scotland's Evictions in Practice study, Audit Scotland have revised the arrears indicator to attempt to address the concerns expressed by the Homelessness Task Force. The revised indicator was set out in the Accounts Commission's Direction for 2006/07, published in November 2005. In our discussion of this issue we identified the need to explore the need for further action to prevent homelessness by tackling wider issues related to rent arrears.

23. Shelter Scotland submitted examples of illegal eviction cases to the Scottish Executive during 2005. The Executive has contacted ACPOS, CoSLA, the Crown Office and Shelter Scotland to organise a meeting in order to consider how complaints of illegal eviction and harassment could be handled between the police and local authorities in the context of private landlord registration.

Vulnerable groups

24. A symposium to discuss the future of housing advice services in prisons was held in November 2005 and a report of the event published in April 2006. The recommendations agreed by delegates are being considered by the Scottish Executive in the context of the new framework established by the Management of Offenders Act 2005. We will continue to monitor the implementation of any new arrangements put into place.

25. Revised guidance on providing housing for people leaving the armed forces was launched in July 2005 to coincide with Veterans Awareness Week. An awareness raising symposium was also held in April 2005 and led to the establishment of a Veterans Programme Scotland Steering Group - this includes representatives from MoD, Scottish Executive, Communities Scotland, Veterans Scotland, Veterans Agency and a large number of ex-service benevolent organisations and is considering a wide range of issues including homelessness and appropriate accommodation for ex-service people. A Prison In-Reach project has been established in Scotland, offering ex-Service personnel access to organisations able to provide assistance to help them resettle in civilian life after release. We will maintain a watching brief - particularly in relation to new data available from the revised HL1 which includes a question relating to service in the armed forces by people applying as homeless.

26. Statistics relating to outcomes for looked after children indicate that the proportion of careleavers who were known to have had an episode of homelessness fell in 2005. We will continue to request updates on the implementation of Regulations and Guidance relating to support for young people leaving care.

Innovation Fund

27. A new Innovation Fund to support the development of demonstration projects focussing on the prevention of homelessness has been created and bids sought from local authorities.

Homelessness Strategies

28. Communities Scotland published a themed report on their findings on homelessness in the Pathfinder inspections in June 2005. The key findings were as follows:

• Appropriate service access arrangements are in place, but not always well publicised;
• Some homeless people were prevented or discouraged from applying for assistance;
• Most authorities quickly interviewed people who were looking for assistance, but did not always record initial approaches as formal homeless applications;
• There was evidence of good practice in relation to assessment of applications, but also a range of weaknesses;
• Not all notification letters provided good information and advice;
• People lost contact with councils because of poor communication or tracking of applications by the councils;
• All authorities operated appropriate review or appeal processes;
• Authorities were doing a lot of work to develop local advice and information partnerships, and advice and information services to young people were a strength;
• All authorities were committed to a shift in the focus of services to the prevention of homelessness;
• All authorities were dealing with increased levels of need for temporary accommodation and the use of Bed and Breakfast accommodation was increasing in three authorities;
• Two authorities failed on several occasions to meet their duty to provide temporary accommodation to people who were roofless;
• The councils had differing approaches to allocating houses to homeless people: some provided them with more choice;
• Not all of the authorities were using section 5 referrals to maximise the availability of houses for let to homeless people; and
• Inspectors saw some good contributions by RSLs to alleviating homelessness, but also some confusion around section 5 duties and responsibilities.

29. Progress reports on homelessness strategies show that local authorities are making good progress in terms of putting in place a range of provision to prevent and tackle homelessness in their area. This includes advice and information services; housing support services; mediation services; housing education projects; and employability services for example. Many authorities have also taken action to increase the availability of good quality temporary accommodation and furnished accommodation. However a number of authorities also refer to the significant challenges posed by rapid increases in homelessness applications; a lack of suitable temporary accommodation which results in a continuing/increasing usage of B&B; and a lack of affordable accommodation (particularly in certain localities within the wider authority area).

30. The Ministerial Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need set out that the Scottish Executive will continue to request an annual progress report and outcome agreement against authorities' homelessness strategies. The 2012 planning subgroup is currently engaged in considering an appropriate template for indicating performance against the five top-level outcomes we consider in Section 2:

• No-one need sleep rough;
• Existing homelessness becomes more visible;
• Sustainable resettlement is secured for people who become homeless;
• Fewer people become homeless in the first place; and
• The duration of homelessness is reduced.

31. Communities Scotland have set their inspection programme for this year and we will pick up the key findings from this, and from previously published reports, in our year's work. We will also take account of issues highlighted in local authorities' progress reports for 2005/06 which are due to be submitted to the Executive by 28 April. Where specific issues are identified by Communities Scotland inspectors these will be addressed through the improvement planning process agreed between Communities Scotland and the authority involved. The Awareness Raising and Best Practice subgroup is also considering the most effective ways in which to identify and disseminate good practice guidance in order to support local authorities and other delivery partners to address some of these issues.

Effective response

Temporary and supported accommodation

32. The Glasgow Hostels decommissioning programme has progressed - with the fourth hostel in the programme due to close in July this year. We welcome the fact that the number of households with children in B&B has begun to reduce throughout Scotland. However, we remain concerned about the use of temporary accommodation - particularly that the numbers of households in temporary accommodation continue to rise, that there have been breaches of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004, and that only 21% of households assessed as non-priority were recorded as receiving temporary accommodation despite the fact there is universal entitlement.

33. As part of their progress reports on 2004/05 local authorities were asked to provide, where relevant, an explanation for low levels of accommodation outcomes recorded for non-priority households. A number of authorities explained that there were recording issues which meant that they felt that the official statistics did not accurately reflect practice. The Executive is currently considering a variety of methods to ensure that official recording through the HL1 accurately reflects practice, with advice from the 2012 planning subgroup and from the HL1 review group.

34. However, a range of issues relating to the availability and accessibility of temporary accommodation which were adversely affecting outcomes for homeless people were also mentioned in local authorities' progress reports. In the main these focussed on people being unwilling/unable to take up offers of temporary accommodation due to its location or cost and on the silting up of temporary accommodation due to lack of move-on options. A number of authorities indicated that meeting their statutory duties was challenging given overall availability of temporary accommodation and the impact of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004 and disability discrimination legislation. These difficulties were confirmed by Communities Scotland's inspections of homelessness services.

35. In light of these continued difficulties, we will continue to place a high priority on the provision of temporary accommodation throughout the course of this year. We will draw on recent statistical data, Communities Scotland's inspection reports and information from the pilot study into the impact of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004 to advise on further action required to ensure that homeless households receive good quality temporary accommodation which supports their transition from homelessness.

Health

36. Monitoring the implementation of the Health and Homelessness Standards is not a component of the new delivery and performance management arrangements for NHS Scotland as set out in Ministers' Key Objectives, Targets and Performance Measures for the NHS and Local Delivery Plans: Guidance 2006/07. A survey of NHS Boards is being undertaken at present in order to establish a baseline as to how well the Boards are responding to the Standards and to identify areas where further support may be required. We will take account of the outcomes of this survey - and the views of the Health and Homelessness Steering Group - in order to advise on how ongoing monitoring and support should be taken forward. There is also a need to do more to identify whether local authorities are recording information about the GP registration of homeless people - the 2012 planning subgroup will take account of this in considering a template for indicating performance against homelessness strategies.

Employment

37. A new Jobcentre Plus external relations team has been established to work closely with all key stakeholders to promote and support initiatives to help disadvantaged customers, including homeless people, into work. Jobcentre Plus has taken a decision to prioritise homeless customers and is working with local authorities across Scotland to identify ways of making vacancies available to clients who require additional support.

38. The interests of homeless people have been reflected in the preparatory work for the Employability Framework which has been ongoing through 2005-06. The Framework will reflect the need for local services to work together to assist those most disadvantaged in the labour market to access training, move into employment and develop their skills in the workplace. The Scottish Executive will encourage local partnerships to mainstream approaches which were identified as being successful from New Futures Funded projects.

39. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is currently funding the Working Future pilot project which aims to improve opportunities for homeless families in temporary accommodation to find and sustain work or training. The project involves reducing the households' rents to an average social rent in return for participating with proactive services to increase labour market participation. We will maintain our interest in this pilot project in order to ascertain whether it is relevant for Scotland. ¹²

Social networks

40. A series of seminars organised by the Social Networks Co-ordinator were held across Scotland in the Summer of 2005. The co-ordinator will remain in place throughout the course of this year - her work programme is steered by a reference group consisting of representatives from the Scottish Executive, Scottish Council for Single Homeless, Scottish Mediation Network, Scottish Churches Housing Action, Scottish Mentoring Network, Ark Trust, Rock Trust and Befriending Network (Scotland). The Co-ordinator attended our November 2005 meeting and will take account of our feedback in her work over the course of the year.