High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Friday, May 15, 2009
Applications, assessments and households in temporary accommodation
In recent years, the observed increases in levels of applications have primarily been due to the increase in the numbers of single-person households applying, together with a more modest increase in applications from single parents. Legislative change is likely to have been an important driver of this increase as single applicants have benefited most from the changes. However, some of the increase may also reflect wider social change with increasing proportions of young people living independently as well as an increase in the rate of household dissolution following breakdown of relationships. The reduction in applications since 2005-06 is also mainly due to a reduction in applications by single person households.
Of the 56,609 applications in 2007-08 40,299 were assessed as homeless or potentially homeless, 32,111 were assessed as priority and 1,677 had yet to be assessed at the time of the analysis. Those with a priority assessment represent 79.7% of those assessed as homeless. This is a 3% increase over 2006-07 which in turn was a 1.2 percentage points increase over 2005-06.
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Source: Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services (Housing Statistics)
Up to March 2005 the summary information on households in temporary accommodation separately identified households with children from households without children. From June 2005 those households without children where a household member was pregnant have been grouped with households with children. This change will have led to a minor break in comparability in the time series.
In early 2008 Glasgow council accepted around 646 asylum seekers as homeless applicants. This reflects the review undertaken by the Home Office of failed asylum seeker cases which had previously been given leave to remain. A number of these households have now had positive decisions, chosen to stay in Glasgow and have made homeless applications. In March 2008, 542 of these households were in temporary accommodation, and of these, 522 were households with dependent children or a household member pregnant. Inclusion of these households in numbers in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2008 overstates the underlying rate of increase in numbers in temporary accommodation when compared with March 2007.
At 31 March 2008 there were 9,518 households in temporary accommodation, having been placed there under the Homeless Persons legislation, of whom 3,986 (42%) were households with children.
The number of households in temporary accommodation has increased in each year from March 2002. This increase has been driven both by the increase in applications and by the new duties placed on councils since September 2002. Although the numbers continue to rise, the longer term data indicate that, after adjusting for the discontinuity in the Glasgow data, there is a continuing gradual reduction in the underlying rate of increase from a 30% increase between March 2002 and March 2003 reducing to an adjusted underlying 4.7% increase between March 2007 and March 2008.
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Source: Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services (Housing Statistics)
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