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Section 2: Outcome 4: Fewer people become homeless in the first place

Introduction

129. HL1 data for 2006/07 shows that nationally 14% of all applicants assessed as either homeless or potentially so, are assessed as potentially homeless. Of those potentially homeless, 35% became homeless before the authority's duty was discharged. Local authorities maintained contact with 70% of potentially homeless until their duty was discharged. However there is huge variation between authorities on both these measurements.

130. In March 2007 the Government published research commissioned from Heriot Watt University on local authorities' prevention activities which showed that authorities have developed a more prevention-centred approach and are engaging in, and funding, a large variety of such activities. However the research also showed that such activities are often not embedded into the main homelessness activities/approaches and remain distinct and apart from the key functions of the local authority. This finding was also confirmed by the 2012 Homelessness Support Project which underlined a perceived lack of joint working and corporate buy-in for preventative activity. To some extent this appears be due to the difficulty in evaluating such activities and showing that they are cost-effective.

131. The research provided a "map" of local authorities' prevention measures and followed up in more detail measures aimed at preventing youth homelessness (such as mediation), assisted access to private tenancies (through e.g. rent deposit guarantee schemes), provision of housing advice, and tenancy sustainment schemes. The information gathered in this research will be used to inform prevention guidance to be developed and issued during the next financial year.

132. Communities Scotland inspectors also found that councils are increasingly looking at prevention, partly due to the challenge of meeting the 2012 target, but also as a positive approach to assist homeless and potentially homeless households. Councils are working with vulnerable groups, with particular emphasis on responding to the needs of young people who are at risk of becoming homeless. Inspectors saw a range of activity on prevention, including work with partner agencies, outsourcing independent advice and providing support services.

133. The Government has funded a number of small-scale projects through its Innovation Fund. These on-going projects cover a huge variety of approaches, such as participation in sport, anger management, and sanctuary schemes. All the projects are being evaluated and the lessons learnt from this will also feed into the development of the prevention guidance.

134. Many of the Homelessness Task Force recommendations and much subsequent activity concentrate on preventing homelessness amongst groups known to be at particular risk. Current progress on work relating to these groups is summarised below:

Looked after children

135. The "We Can And Must Do Better" document and action plan ²⁷, published in January 2007, is being taken forward by a programme board and sub-groups, one of which (the Safe and Nurtured Group) is examining how to ensure that looked after young people do not leave the care system without appropriate and suitable accommodation for them to move into, as well as considering how care leavers can avoid homelessness.

136. The Safe and Nurtured Group has been formally tasked with taking forward actions 17 to 19 in the action plan, and is currently looking at suitable models of accommodation and support for people leaving care. Through increasing awareness of corporate parenting, some authorities are taking positive steps to prevent care leavers becoming homeless, and offering support to young people in sustaining tenancies. The group is also considering how to promote more joined up and strategic approaches within relevant departments of local authorities, and between local authorities and their partners in the voluntary sector, to ensure that throughcare and aftercare are properly planned and delivered. The continued need for focussed attention on preventing homelessness for this group of young people was confirmed during the 2012 Homelessness Support Project.

Ex-service personnel

137. The Veterans Programme (Scotland) Steering Group has been established to consider a wide range of issues including homelessness and appropriate accommodation for veterans. The revised HL1 has been in operation since April 2007 and will provide information on the number of veterans (and their households) applying as homeless when the next statistical bulletin is published.

Ex-offenders

138. Through the local outcome agreements and progress reports, many authorities reported prison outreach work to prevent homelessness amongst ex-offenders. The Scottish Government has just established a short life working group to report to Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers on a sustainable model for housing advice services for prisoners. The group will consider delivery options and a provisional timetable for change and will report in late summer 2008.

People at immediate threat of eviction

139. Sections 11 and 12 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 offer additional protection to individuals involved in repossession cases. Section 12 - which allows for delays or failures in Housing Benefit to be taken into account in these cases - is currently in force. A consultation exercise on the implementation of section 11, which requires landlords and creditors to notify the local authority in repossession cases, was carried out last year ²⁸. Communities Scotland inspectors have found some local authorities already have such arrangements in place with RSLs.

140. Through local outcome agreements and progress reports, some local authorities reported funding legal and/or in-court advisors to work with tenants and owners at risk of eviction. A few authorities also referred to invoking the Mortgage Rights (Scotland) Act 2001 and the mortgage to rent scheme to assist people in this situation.

141. Following concerns raised by some stakeholders about a lack of awareness among private tenants of their rights in relation to eviction proceedings and concerns that illegal evictions were not being given sufficient priority by some agencies, the Scottish Government agreed to consider the issue. As a result, the Scottish Government worked with stakeholders to prepare a briefing note for local authorities and police forces on private renting and illegal evictions ²⁹. This note aims to raise awareness of the legislation related to illegal evictions and how best police and local authorities might deal with cases where a tenant has been evicted or is threatened with eviction without the correct procedures having been followed.

142. In addition, the Scottish Government has developed a new leaflet for tenants on illegal evictions and harassment ³⁰ and a new leaflet for landlords on private renting ³¹ and these have been disseminated widely to help raise awareness of landlords' responsibilities and what tenants can do if they have been evicted illegally.

Disabled people

143. In terms of ensuring that people do not become homeless for want of appropriate adaptations, 18 authorities reported through the local outcome agreements and progress reports that they met the terms of this recommendation, 11 stated that they were making progress towards it and 1 that no progress was being made. The authority reporting no progress is one which transferred its housing stock and is now experiencing difficulties in planning appropriate provision of barrier free housing for varying needs and responding promptly to the requirement for stock adaptations.

144. In most areas, local authorities expressed confidence that they were able to provide adapted properties where necessary for homeless people - and several mentioned that they were able to make such provision in temporary as well as permanent stock. Overall provision of such stock was planned through the Local Housing Strategy process and private owners are assisted through the Private Sector Housing Grant. A number of local authorities mentioned the role of occupational therapists in assessing need proactively.

145. Generally authorities were confident that this range of activity results in provision which is adequate to prevent homelessness, although one authority noted a lack of suitable ground floor properties. The need for good links with hospitals was also mentioned by one authority - in order that patients are not 'bed-blocking' whilst awaiting adaptations. Groups such as Ownership Options and Shelter Scotland have however raised significant concerns regarding the availability of adapted properties based on their experience of individual cases.

Domestic abuse

146. The National Domestic Abuse Delivery Group ( NDADG) was established in December 2006 to review current policy and practice in relation to children and young people affected by domestic abuse in Scotland and develop and implement an integrated package of measures to improve outcomes for these children and young people, their families and communities.

147. The provision of safe housing options and prevention of homelessness for children and their mothers affected by domestic abuse have been identified as key priorities for inclusion in their package of measures. The NDADG will build on the work of the Domestic Abuse Accommodation and Support Provision Working Group ( DAASPWG), a subgroup of the National Group to Address Violence Against Women, which has developed a comprehensive Action Plan setting out a rationale and recommendations - at a strategic level - to improve accommodation and associated support provision for women and their children affected by domestic abuse.

148. The DAASPWG Action Plan focuses recommendations on five key areas: Training and Regulation, Funding Framework, Strategy Framework, Joint Working and Homelessness Prevention and Community Services. The NDADG will publish a Delivery Plan in Spring 2008 setting out the range of measures it will take forward over the three-year period 2008 - 2011, and activities to support their implementation.

149. Through the local outcome agreements and progress reports, the majority of local authorities stated that they had reviewed their domestic abuse policies to ensure that they did not lead to avoidable homelessness. Many authorities work closely with Women's Aid and have domestic abuse forums in place to facilitate joint working. Some local authorities reported providing a range of security systems to enable women to stay in the family home.

Proactive provision of advice and support

150. More generally, local authorities' outcome agreements and progress reports reflected the findings of the Heriot Watt research, Communities Scotland inspections and the 2012 Homelessness Support Project as outlined above. Local authorities reported details of a wide range of advice and support being made available to those threatened with homelessness. This included:

• Provision of housing support officers and anti-social behaviour teams to assist tenants with rent arrears or issues with anti-social behaviour.
• Providing housing education for young people. Many mentioned using national materials such as those developed by the Scottish Council for Single Homeless for this purpose whilst others focused on local approaches such as a CD made by local children who have experienced homelessness and working directly with education colleagues to ensure homelessness is covered in delivery of the curriculum. Local authority homelessness staff and staff from relevant voluntary agencies are also involved in lesson planning and delivery within schools and ensuring that young people are aware of the realities of homelessness.
• Commissioning legal representation to be provided by legal agencies.
• Investment in training staff to ensure they meet the National Standards for Housing Information and Advice.
• Funding and working with third parties to ensure the provision of independent advocacy and advice. Shelter Scotland and CAB were mentioned most frequently but a range of local voluntary agencies are also engaged in this work. Some authorities mentioned that they have developed an advice network in order to facilitate joint working amongst providers and for accreditation purposes. A number of authorities were clear that their decision letters to homelessness applicants clearly signpost relevant advice and advocacy services in the area. It is clear that local authorities target provision to certain groups of people felt to be at greatest risk of homelessness, or of exclusion from mainstream services. These groups include young people; prisoners; rough sleepers; disabled people; and people from BME communities. Where services focus on particular topics these are most commonly finance/debt; benefits; or health. A number also focus on tenancy information or tenancy sustainment more broadly.
• Development of a housing options approach.
• Developing service directories which publicise the range of assistance available in the area.
• Provision of mediation services, either in house or in conjunction with other agencies .

151. As well as the provision of services a number of authorities reported that they had changed their working practices to take more account of the need to prevent homelessness and were working with other local partners to achieve that aim. Most of the activity mentioned related to the development of shared assessment processes in order to identify households at risk of homelessness and protocols put in place to meet the needs of these households effectively. The range of partners involved included RSLs, money advice agencies, hospitals and private landlords.

Recording outcomes

152. It is clear from the local outcome agreement and progress report process that many authorities struggled to define outcomes that focussed on the end result of the activities undertaken. Outcomes defined did not usually focus on whether or not actual homelessness had been prevented but rather focussed on intermediary steps such as whether support posts were in place or whether information and advice had been provided. In some cases information was provided on how many people received a service but this did not go on to be explicit about the outcome achieved as a result. In other cases outcomes were defined in terms of prevention and tenancy sustainment but without making it clear if these outcomes were actually being attained or not.

153. There were some exceptions. A few authorities were able to track the impact of their activities and show that the number of evictions was decreasing. Other authorities were able to state that there had been a reduction in the number of ex-offenders presenting as homeless immediately after release. Some local authorities reported that they were developing outcomes and would have monitoring in place in the future.

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