« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
3. Summary of current legislation
3.1 The Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977, now consolidated into Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, introduced statutory duties on housing authorities to assist those who are homeless or threatened with homelessness (potentially homeless), including providing accommodation in certain circumstances.
3.2 The legislation requires local authorities to make inquiries into the circumstances of applicants to satisfy themselves whether the applicant is homeless or potentially homeless. Once the authority is satisfied this is the case, it must also determine whether the applicant has a priority need, whether he/she became homeless intentionally and may also explore whether the applicant has a local connection with another authority in Scotland, England or Wales. A local connection with an authority means that the applicant normally resided in that area from choice, either because he/she was employed in or had family associations with it, or for other special reasons.
3.3 Section 24 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended, defines homelessness for the purposes of the Act as follows. A person is homeless if he/she has no accommodation in the UK or elsewhere. A person is also homeless if he/she has accommodation but cannot occupy it, or it would be unreasonable for them to occupy it, for example because of a threat of violence. A person is potentially homeless (threatened with homelessness) if it is likely that he/she will become homeless within two months. A person is intentionally homeless if he/she deliberately did or failed to do anything which led to the loss of accommodation which it was reasonable for him/her to continue to occupy.
3.4 A person is regarded as having a priority need for accommodation if:
a. the household contains dependent children
b. a member of the household is pregnant
c. a member of the household is vulnerable because of:
old age
learning disability
physical disability
personality disorder
mental illness
chronic ill health
miscarriage
abortion
discharge from hospital, prison or the armed forces
other special reasons
d. he/she is
a single young person under 21 who is looked after by a local authority (formerly 'in care') at school leaving age or later
at risk of sexual or financial exploitation or involvement in substance misuse as a result of their living circumstances
e. the household is homeless in an emergency (such as fire or flood).
f. he/she is a person aged 16 or 17
g. he/she runs the risk of domestic abuse
h. he/she runs the risk of violence or harassment by reason of their religion, sexual orientation, race, colour or ethnic or national origins.
(Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, Section 25)
3.5 The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 requires councils to provide a minimum of temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to all applicants assessed as homeless, regardless of whether they have been assessed as being in priority need. The Homelessness Etc (Scotland) Act 2003 is more long-term in scope, notably introducing a phasing out of the distinction between priority and non-priority applications, and enabling the suspension of the test of local connection. The ultimate aim of the Act is to ensure that everyone assessed as being unintentionally homeless is entitled to permanent accommodation by 2012. The Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004 came into force on 6 December 2004, and is intended to prevent the routine use of unsuitable temporary accommodation for households with family commitments. Under this Order, local authorities cannot put households with children and pregnant women into 'unsuitable' temporary accommodation, unless exceptional circumstances apply.
3.6 A summary of local authorities' current responsibilities is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Local authority assessment of applicants and responsibilities under the current Homeless Persons legislation
Source: Graphic provided by the Scottish Council for Single Homeless.
Note: Lost contacts and situations resolved prior to assessment are not indicated as local authorities have no statutory responsibilities in these cases. In the case of loss of contact, the case may only be closed after 28 days from the date of last interview.
3.7 The Ministerial Statement on the Abolition of Priority Need, published in December 2005, indicated that local authorities would be asked to produce progress reports focusing on performance against the topline outcomes set by the Homelessness Monitoring Group:
- No one need sleep rough
- Existing homelessness becomes more visible
- Sustainable resettlement is secured for people who have become homeless
- Fewer people become homeless in the first place
- The duration of homelessness is reduced
3.8 The Scottish Government will issue centrally held data derived from the HL1 to local authorities as part of this monitoring process to enable a more informed dialogue with local government regarding homelessness trends.
« Previous | Contents | Next »