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Introduction

1. This Statistics publication provides information on applications to local authorities for assistance under the homeless persons legislation covering the period to 31 March 2008. It includes information on the characteristics of applicant households, local authority assessments and the action taken in respect of cases that were concluded. Snapshot data on households in temporary accommodation at 31 March are presented, together with data on the implementation of the Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order 2004.

2. This bulletin provides the first full year's analysis following revision of homelessness data collection which took effect from 1 April 2007. In particular the bulletin provides new analyses on the housing circumstances of homeless applicants in the period immediately before applying for assistance, provides more detail on support needs and on outcomes of applications. This bulletin provides summary tables and charts. More detailed reference tables have also been published on the Scottish Government website at Housing and Regeneration - Publications

Main points

3. The main points are:-

Applications and applicant households

• There were an estimated 56,609 applications to local authorities under the Homeless Persons legislation in 2007-08. This represents a decrease of 4.9% compared to the 59,550 applications during 2006-07 ( Table 1 and Chart 1).
• The majority of households applying were single-person households (60%), mainly men. Single parents, predominantly women, accounted for the next largest group (24%) ( Table 2 and Chart 2).
• The main reasons for applying as homeless were household disputes or relationship breakdown (27%) and being asked to leave their current accommodation (25%) ( Table 5 and Chart 11).
• 42% of applicants in 2007-08 had been living with relatives or friends before applying, 35% had been living in accommodation which they either rented or owned, 3% had come from prison and 3% had come from supported accommodation. ( Table 3).
• For those who had been living with family or friends the main contributing factors for loss of accommodation were external factors such as the landlord selling the property, harassment or antisocial behaviour by others, flood or fire - cited by 27%- and lack of support from family or friends - cited by 15%. ( Table 4 and Chart 10)
• Of the 4,228 applications for homelessness assistance from owner occupiers, 26% cited financial difficulties/ debt or unemployment as contributing to their loss of accommodation while 22% cited external factors. ( Table 4 and Chart 9)
• Just under a third (32%) of those who had been renting cited external factors as a contributing to their loss of accommodation while 15% cited financial difficulties/ debt or unemployment. ( Table 4 and Chart 9)
• In 2007-08 some 6% of applicants - an average of 282 applicants per month - slept rough the night before applying for assistance. The proportion of applicants sleeping rough the night before applying varied from around 15% in Edinburgh and Aberdeen to below 1% in North Lanarkshire, West Lothian, Dundee, South Lanarkshire and Midlothian. (Chart 13).
• 36% of applications were from households on councils' waiting lists. This varied widely between councils from 70% in Aberdeenshire to around 10% in South Ayrshire. (Chart 12)
• The percentage of homeless applications identified as repeat applications (i.e. where a previous application from the household had been closed less than 12 months before the current application ¹) has fallen from 9.2% in 2003-04 to 6.7% in 2007-08. (Chart 14)

Local authority assessment

• At the time of this analysis, of the 56,609 applications in 2007-08, 40,299 had been assessed as homeless 14,633 were either not homeless or lost contact and 1,677 had not yet been assessed. ( Table 1)
• Of the 40,299 applications assessed as homeless, 32,111 (79.7%) were assessed as priority. ( Table 1). This was a 3.0 percentage points increase over 2006-07, which in turn was a 1.2 percentage points increase over 2005-06. ( Table 1 and Chart 3).
• The proportion of homeless households assessed as priority in 2007-08 varies widely between councils, from 96% in West Dunbartonshire to under 70% in Moray, Fife, Stirling, Aberdeen City, East Ayrshire, East Lothian and Shetland. (Chart 16)
• By 2007-08 single people aged between 25 and retirement were the largest priority group, their numbers having increased from a little over 5,000 in 2000-01 to over 9,000 in 2007-08. (Chart 15)
• In 2007-08, 34% of households were assessed as having one or more support needs. 12% of homeless applicants required support because of a mental health issue, 11% needed support on skills for independent living and 10% required support because of alcohol dependency. (Chart 17)
• In 2007-08 the most common reasons for a priority assessment were that the household had dependent children (39% of all priority assessments), a household member was vulnerable (16%), the applicant household was fleeing domestic violence or abuse (14%) or mental illness or personality disorder of a household member (12%). (Chart 18)

Action taken by local authorities

• There were 51,476 applications actioned by local authorities during 2007-08. Of these 10,835 were cases in which the application had been withdrawn or contact lost with the applicant before an assessment could be made and a further 7,209 were cases where contact was lost before the council discharged its duty.
• In 2007-08 17,447 households were offered a social rented tenancy of whom 15,598 (89%) took up the offer. Temporary accommodation was offered to 4,289 households of whom 59% took up the offer and a private rented tenancy was offered to 1,573 households of whom 99% took up the offer. (Chart 19)
• The most common actions taken by councils to try to prevent homelessness in the 6,383 households who were either threatened with homelessness ² or were assessed as not homeless in the period were:-
• • assistance in finding alternative accommodation, provided to 28% of this group of households;
  • assessment of support needs, provided to 23% of this group;
  • independent financial, legal or housing advice, provided to 16%;
  • basic housing support to manage finances or living alone, provided to 12%;
  • assistance in dealing with landlord or mortgage provider, provided to 9%;
  • assistance in claiming benefits, provided to 8%
  • use of a rent deposit/ guarantee scheme, provided to 6%
  • services such as counselling, mediation and befriending, provided to 5%
  • involvement of a social work/ health/ community care service, provided to 4%.
• The number of homeless households securing a permanent let in social rented accommodation increased from a little under 12,000 and 2002-03 to reach around 17,500 in 2005-06 and 2006-07 falling to around 16,300 in 2007-08. The reduction between 2006-07 and 2007-08 in the number of homeless households securing social rented accommodation reflects a reduction in the total number of homeless households whose cases were resolved in 2007-08. (See table 7)

Households in temporary accommodation

• At 31 March 2008 there were 9,518 households in temporary accommodation who had been placed there under the Homeless Persons legislation. ( Table 8)
• This represents an increase of 11% compared to the situation at 31 March 2007. However, the inclusion by Glasgow for the first time of 542 previously asylum seeker households assessed as homeless overstates the underlying rate of increase in numbers in temporary accommodation. Adjusting for this gives an underlying rate of increase of 4.7% between 2006-07 and 2007-08.
• At 31 March 2008 there were 3,986 households with children or pregnant women in temporary accommodation. ( Table 8)
• At 31 March 2008, 64% of households in temporary accommodation were in local authority or housing association accommodation, with a further 12% in hostels and 17% in bed and breakfast accommodation ( Table 9).
• Households with children tend on the whole to be provided with local authority or housing association accommodation (87%), with a minority (3%) being placed in bed and breakfast accommodation. ( Table 9)
• At 31 March 2008, there were 118 households with children or pregnant women in bed and breakfast accommodation. This varied by local authority, with 18 local authorities having none or only one household with children in bed and breakfast and 4 local authorities having more than 10. ( Table 10)
• Councils with the largest number of households with children or pregnant women in bed & breakfast accommodation were Perth & Kinross (22), Highland (14) Moray (13) and Midlothian (12). ( Table 10)

Implementation of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order

• A total of 62 breaches of the Order were reported at 31 March 2008; an increase from 34 breaches reported at 31 March 2007. ( Table 12)
• Councils with the largest number of households housed in breach of the order were Perth & Kinross (11 households), Midlothian (10 households), Moray and Highland (9 households) and Falkirk (5 households).
• The number of breaches of the Order represents 1.6% of households with children or pregnant women in temporary accommodation at that point.

Context

4. In interpreting the statistics and analyses in this release, it is important to bear in mind that the information is derived from councils' administration of homelessness legislation. Trends can be affected by legislative changes, changes in interpretation of legislation or guidance and by changes in local authority recording practice. Where these have been identified, these are highlighted in the description of the main trends.

5. In 2001, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation which placed additional duties on councils to provide a minimum of temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to all applicants assessed as homeless. In particular, from September 2002, councils have been required to provide temporary accommodation, advice and assistance to non-priority applicants who in the past would have received advice and assistance only. This has had a noticeable impact on applications, which has been reflected in changing assessments and outcomes for homeless people. Some tables in this release therefore present time series data so that this impact can be tracked.

6. The Homelessness Etc (Scotland) Act 2003 aims to ensure that by 2012 everyone assessed as being unintentionally homeless is entitled to settled accommodation. In the homelessness statistics we would generally expect to see progress towards this commitment reflected in increasing proportions of those applicants who are assessed as homeless or threatened with homelessness as also in priority need, and reducing proportions assessed as non-priority.

7. The Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order came into force in December 2004. This Order requires councils to ensure that households with children or pregnant women are not placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation, unless exceptional circumstances apply. Changes in the data collection to monitor the implementation of the Order are described in the notes section before the tables.

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