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7. Since the Task Force reported, a number of major changes have taken place which have radically altered the landscape against which public and voluntary agencies deliver services to homeless people. Some of these have come about as a result of implementation of the Task Force's recommendations; others concern the broader context within which the recommendations are now being taken forward.

The Government's Purpose

8. The Government's Purpose: "to focus government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable growth", published in November 2007, has been set out in the Government Economic Strategy ¹. A set of targets support delivery of the Purpose and define the characteristics of sustainable economic growth across Scotland.

Relationship between Local and National Government

9. The Scottish Government and COSLA have also agreed a Concordat ² setting out the terms of a new relationship between national and local government and encompassing a new outcomes focused National Performance Framework. Each part of the National Framework is directed towards, and contributes to, the Government's Purpose. A central element of the new relationship is the creation of a Single Outcome Agreement between each Council and the Government based on 15 mutually agreed national outcomes and reflecting established corporate and community plan commitments across local authorities and Community Planning Partnerships.

10. The national outcomes are supported by a set of 45 national indicators and targets developed by the Government to track progress towards outcomes; indicator 22 is that all unintentionally homeless households will be entitled to settled accommodation by 2012.

11. The Concordat underpins the funding to be provided from the Scottish Government to local government over the period 2008/09 to 2010/11. The number of separate funding streams will be reduced substantially, with ring-fences around homelessness and housing support funding amongst those being removed. Single Outcome Agreements will set out the outcomes each local authority is seeking to achieve, determined by the national outcomes and local needs and circumstances. Performance reporting at the end of the financial year will also be streamlined with submission of one report setting out progress and achievements. COSLA and the Scottish Government are putting in place arrangements to oversee and monitor the new working relationship.

Service development and delivery

12. Since 2002 there have been a number of further broad changes which have impacted on the way in which homelessness and related services are delivered in Scotland. For example, there have been fundamental changes in the organisation of health services and a significant strengthening of strategic approaches to ensuring the health needs of homeless people are identified and met. In line with national guidance all Health Boards adopted Health and Homelessness Action Plans in April 2002. A Health and Homelessness Steering Group consisting of representatives from the homeless voluntary sector, the NHS, local government and the Scottish Executive provided support to this period of development for the NHS. This momentum culminated in the development of the Health and Homelessness Standards which all Boards began implementing from April 2005. The Standards are at the centre of the commitment to improve the health of homeless people and are a key element in achieving the holistic approach recommended by the Task Force.

13. Elsewhere, an employability framework has been developed and Community Justice Authorities have been established. The Scottish Government has also published Firm Foundations - a discussion document on the future of housing in Scotland ³. The Welfare Reform agenda at a UK level may also have a significant impact on benefits issues relevant to homelessness services and developments in this area are discussed further in Section 2.

14. Where specifically relevant to achieving the top-level outcomes or the 2012 target, these developments will be referenced directly in the remainder of this report. However they are also relevant more broadly for those planning and delivering services for homeless people.

15. Broader societal changes are also likely to be relevant - demographic changes such as the increased number of single person households and inward migration from Eastern Europe are already having an impact on the delivery of services for homeless people. Other factors such as climate change and the 'credit crunch' could potentially have a very significant impact in the future.

Joint working

16. Homelessness strategies have been in place in all local authorities for a number of years, as required by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, with most authorities now looking to revise these. The process of developing and agreeing strategies has helped to drive partnership working, innovative approaches, inter-service protocols and improved commissioning processes and arrangements, as indicated by the findings of the 2012 Homelessness Support Project.

17. Strategies have provided a framework for increased local joint working, as evidenced through the local outcome agreements and progress reports. All authorities report the establishment of fora to develop and implement their strategy and often these include subgroups considering specific issues, such as the development of a Common Housing Register or an integrated assessment process. In addition most authorities made reference to networking opportunities for front-line practitioners and broader events held to bring partners together throughout the year.

18. Joint training events are also common as are service level agreements and protocols that have been put in place with partners. There is also recognition of the importance of the voluntary sector and the need to support the sector to ensure its full participation. Several authorities reported that there is an increased focus on homelessness prevention and tenancy sustainment across the range of partners and that this is reflected in community planning and Alcohol and Drug Action Team planning, for example.

19. One particular example of unprecedented levels of cross sector working has been the Glasgow hostels reprovisioning programme which has had a major impact on addressing homelessness in the city (accounting for a fifth of all homeless households in Scotland). The final hostel closed in March 2008 and a longitudinal study established to identify the most significant lessons is due to report in 2010.

20. Despite the changes which have taken place and the real improvements made, it should be noted that the need to improve further joint and corporate working on homelessness has been highlighted by the voluntary sector and was raised as a major issue by local authority staff participating in the 2012 Homelessness Support Project. Activity to improve joint working should focus both on existing and potentially new interfaces, for example the emerging adult protection framework. The particular need for services to work together to find effective responses for clients with multiple and complex needs was also emphasised through this project and in local outcome agreements and progress reports. The 2012 Homelessness Support Project also noted significant missed opportunities to work corporately and with other agencies to prevent homelessness.

21. It should also be recognised that Communities Scotland inspectors have found that, with some notable exceptions, homelessness services often do not get the level of corporate support that other housing services appear to. This may lie behind the relatively low profile of grades for homelessness services as compared to councils' housing management services and property management services. Of the 19 homelessness services for whom Communities Scotland has now published inspection reports, one council received an A grade, one a B grade, eleven a C grade and six a D grade. This means that 90% of councils have been graded as fair (C) or poor (D).

22. This level of performance indicates that, despite improvements which have taken place to date, there is ample scope for further progress. Local authorities and partners will wish to address this through taking forward the actions suggested in the report of the 2012 Homelessness Support Project and by ensuring local issues are reflected as Single Outcome Agreements continue to develop.

Changes to homelessness legislation and guidance

23. The legislative changes recommended by the Task Force in its final report were enacted through the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003. This built on the homelessness provisions contained in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, informed by the Task Force's interim report. The key changes introduced by the 2001 Act included:

• Local authorities required to produce a homelessness strategy: as noted above, strategies are now in place in all local authority areas.
• Registered Social Landlords ( RSLs) required to provide accommodation for homeless people in certain circumstances: this introduced a new duty on RSLs to participate in rehousing homeless households. Currently approximately 20% of RSL lets go to homeless people and Communities Scotland inspections have found a variety of approaches to managing the relationship between local authorities and RSLs in terms of securing lets for homeless people. The operation of this aspect of the 2001 Act is currently the subject of a review being carried out by the Scottish Government; this is discussed further at paragraph 83.
• Temporary accommodation to be provided to all homeless households: this increased entitlement to temporary accommodation led to an upturn in usage. The upturn is currently continuing due to demographic changes and shortages of permanent social lets. The number of households in temporary accommodation has risen from 5,488 in 2003 to 9,164 in 2007. Regulations have been put in place to govern the type of temporary accommodation which should be offered to households containing children and pregnant women. These have resulted in a decrease in the numbers of these households in bed and breakfast accommodation; however this type of accommodation is still commonly used for other homeless households, despite a significant increase in the provision of alternatives such as temporary furnished flats and houses. The impact on temporary accommodation of moving towards the 2012 target is considered in Section 3.

24. The 2003 Act sets the framework for further fundamental changes to the handling of homelessness applications and the outcomes to which homeless households are entitled. In particular, the Act contains the target that the current distinction between households assessed as having a priority need for accommodation and other households who are currently assessed as 'non-priority' be abolished by 2012. At this point, all unintentionally homeless households would have the same entitlements to accommodation. Section 3 of this report looks at current progress towards this ambitious target and the capacity for it to be achieved.

25. The 2003 Act also allows Scottish Ministers to change the operation of current legislative provisions which allow local authorities to refer households without a 'local connection' to their area to another local authority where they do have such a connection. A consultation on a proposal to suspend these referral powers between Scottish local authorities was carried out in 2006/2007. The issues raised during this consultation period and by participants in the 2012 Homelessness Support Project are to be discussed within a working group to be established by the Scottish Government and COSLA.

26. The 2003 Act sets out a new regime of accommodation and support to apply for intentionally homeless households. Research on the accommodation and support needs of intentionally homeless households ⁴ was carried out and published in 2006. The Scottish Government is currently exploring ways in which better corporate working across local government and between local agencies can be encouraged in order to ensure the most effective response to the challenges posed by some intentionally homeless households. An evaluation is also taking place of intensive intervention projects established to work with families at risk of eviction because of anti-social behaviour. This will inform implementation of these sections of the 2003 Act.

27. The legislation also reflects an increased focus on prevention of homelessness with requirements to take housing benefit delays into account in repossession cases and the introduction of notification by landlords in these cases also. This emphasis on prevention was also highlighted in the revised Code of Guidance on Homelessness published in 2005 ⁵ and the publication of research into preventative activity in 2007. ⁶

28. Guidance on addressing homelessness in black and minority ethnic ( BME) communities and on promoting the best interests of homeless children is being developed by the Scottish Government in partnership with stakeholders and will be published shortly. The need for further guidance on temporary accommodation and allocations processes is also being considered.

Culture change and the service user perspective

29. The Task Force emphasised the need for services for homeless people to ensure effective participation of their end users in the design and delivery of these services and the need for a personalised and holistic response which brings together relevant services to deliver the best outcomes for the individual. The 2012 Homelessness Support Project also highlighted the continued need to address the stigmatisation of homelessness and homeless people. Existing research ⁷ shows that negative attitudes and widely-believed myths about homeless people impact upon service delivery and the ability of authorities to help homeless people sustain accommodation.

30. There have been a large number of national and local conferences and other events focussing on aspects of homelessness and emphasising the focus on joint working, prevention and better outcomes which the Task Force highlighted. The Chartered Institute of Housing delivered seminars examining the issues highlighted in research into the knowledge, understanding and views of homelessness amongst service providers which was published in 2006. ⁸ The approach to homelessness in Scotland has also attracted interest internationally with interest from Norway, France, the Czech Republic, the USA, Canada and Australia. The Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 received the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions' Housing Rights Protector award in 2003.

31. Findings from a Scottish Social Attitudes Survey module on homelessness were published in 2007 ⁹ and provide a useful insight and a good baseline against which to measure the impact of future policy development and implementation.

32. All local authorities have funded training for staff delivering services to homeless people. As noted above, this is accessible to staff across a range of public agencies in order to encourage better shared understanding and joint working. In some cases it is also open to, and funded for, staff in voluntary organisations also. Scottish Training on Drugs and Alcohol has developed bespoke training courses covering housing and homelessness issues and the Scottish Government provides core funding for the delivery of training to housing and homelessness staff.

33. Communities Scotland inspectors consider whether authorities are promoting values, attitudes and behaviours which deliver responsive and personalised homelessness services, and the extent to which service users are involved in improving services and tests with tenant assessors. The Scottish Housing Best Value Network also facilitates a peer review process for homelessness services, including an element of service user review.

34. Glasgow Homelessness Network will shortly publish a toolkit of good practice in service user involvement in the prevention and alleviation of homelessness. The toolkit has been developed with service users and providers and will offer practical assistance on how best to implement service user involvement in all services - including mainstream services - which have a stake in homelessness; this involves identifying the benefits to both the service and the service user.

35. Shelter Scotland has recently published a resource pack ("But Why Here?") ¹⁰ to give accommodation providers practical help on how to work more effectively with communities to ease concerns and head off conflict.

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