This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Consultation on B&B for homeless ban
20/01/2004
Ministers today took action to end the use of bed and
breakfast accommodation for homeless families with
children.
Minister for Communities, Margaret Curran announced she
will launch a consultation exercise to seek the views of
local authorities, homeless campaigners and other
interested parties on what is suitable temporary
accommodation for children.
Speaking as the Scottish Executive issued statistics on
the numbers of people applying to local authorities for
assistance with homelessness, Ms Curran said:
"These latest statistics show that homeless people
continue to benefit from the new rights to accommodation
which this Executive has introduced. They also show that
we are making real inroads to breaking the cycle of repeat
homelessness as fewer people find themselves having to
applymore than once, indicating that more sustainable
solutions are being found.
"However, I continue to be concerned by the number of
families with children living in inappropriate bed and
breakfast accommodation. The Executive has already made
clear to local authorities that we expect them to end the
inappropriate use of B&B accommodation for such
families.
"I am encouraged that the statistics show that almost
all local authorities are making progress towards this. I
now want to seek views on how we use the legislative powers
taken under the Homelessness (Scotland) Act 2003, to ensure
it is only in exceptional circumstances and for strictly
limited periods that any child should be accommodated in a
B&B.
"I will be issuing a consultation paper very shortly and
look forward to hearing the full range of views on the
subject so we can ensure all children are accommodated
appropriately and in a way that meets their best
interests."
The Executive endorsed the Homelessness Task Force's
recommendation that local authorities' strategies should
include proposals to eliminate the use of B&Bs for
families and issued guidance to this effect in March 2002.
This guidance was developed in consultation with CoSLA and
others.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 introduced a requirement
on local authorities to have regard to the best interests
of dependent children in exercising their homelessness
functions. The Homelessness (Scotland) Act 2003
strengthened this requirement, to make it clear that the
final accommodation provided must be suitable for
occupation by such children so far as is consistent with
their best interests.
Section 9 of the Homelessness (Scotland) Act 2003
introduced a power to the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987,
enabling Ministers to specify accommodation which is
unsuitable for use as interim accommodation for homeless
households (this commences on 30 January 2004).
Regulations under Section 9 could be used to specify bed
and breakfast accommodation as unsuitable interim
accommodation for families. In August 2003, Deputy
Minister for Communities Mary Mulligan said that the
Executive would consult in due course on the use of this
regulatory power.
The Executive's consultation on the use of B&B
accommodation will be issued very shortly and responses to
it will be considered alongside the Executive's assessment
of the effectiveness of local authorities' homelessness
strategies one year from their introduction in April
2003.