« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Appendix B - HOMELESSNESS MONITORING GROUP -
PRIORITIES FOR 2004-05
Continue to promote and support action which makes
culture change a reality.
Ensure that our Group is accessible for people who have
experienced homelessness.
Feed into, and draw upon, work to develop the Scottish
Housing Quality Standard and Local Housing Strategies and
the research into expansion of priority need in order to
assess the current situation on supply and quality of
housing and inform the Ministerial statement on the
abolition of priority need which is required to be made by
December 2005.
Ensure that the agreed commencement plan for the 2003
Act is followed and that local authorities, other service
providers and homeless people themselves are given adequate
support to understand and prepare for implementation of the
new legislation.
Monitor local authorities' implementation of their
legislative duties towards homeless people - including
overseeing the continuous improvement of homelessness and
housing strategies and development of local outcome
agreements specifying clear outcomes which local
authorities will seek to achieve with their homelessness
funding.
Secure a sound evidence base to inform the detail of the
commencement plan for the 2003 Act.
Provide comments on draft regulations, and consultation
material, as necessary.
Clearly identify the agencies responsible for taking
forward the Homelessness Task Force recommendations on
benefits issues, homelessness amongst institution leavers,
improving tenancy sustainment, improving access to
health/employment services, and illegal eviction and
harassment and ensure they are aware of this responsibility
and addressing it. Continue to monitor the delivery of
these recommendations through homelessness strategies and
ensure that Executive guidance reflects these
recommendations and emphasises their importance.
Feed into research/reviews being carried out by
DWP, determine to what extent these
deliver against the Task Force's recommendations and
consider the need for further action.
Ask the Scottish Executive to raise with
DWP the specific issues relating to
barriers to sustaining tenancies established under rent
deposits schemes, as noted in recent research.
Ensure that Communities Scotland and the Scottish
Executive work with the agencies that regulate prisons and
care facilities to ensure clear standards for housing and
homelessness services are set and monitored.
Ensure that the Executive discuss illegal eviction and
harassment with
ACPOS and the Crown Office, as
recommended by the Task Force.
Ensure that Health services and local authorities work
together to mainstream health services for homeless
people.
Monitor the progress of the Glasgow Homelessness
Partnership in achieving the milestones set out in the
delivery plan for the Glasgow hostels programme.
Ensure that support services funded through the Rough
Sleepers Initiative are effectively integrated into
homelessness strategies.
Support national work on workforce planning for the
social care sector by building a clearer picture of the
social care support demands associated with the new
homelessness duties, the workforce supply to meet these
demands, and possible solutions to help address recruitment
and retention of social care workers.
Ensure that the needs of homeless households are taken
into account in work being taken forward to bed in
Supporting People.
Continue to develop and communicate the Group's
performance framework and data for monitoring delivery of
Task Force recommendations and their effects, and to build
wider understanding of homelessness trends and reasons for
these.
Advise the Executive on the quantification of its target
to substantially reduce, by 2006, the number of households
becoming homeless more than once in a year - monitor
progress against this target and promote action to help its
achievement.
« Previous | Contents | Next »