GHN's blog

A debate is emerging at a national level between the Scottish Government and Shelter Scotland about standards in temporary accommodation.

Following its inquiry in the 2012 Homelessness Commitment, the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee of the Scottish Parliament has published its final report into Homelessness in Scotland.  The Committee considered evidence from key stakeholders across Scotland and the final report sets out 24 recommendations in relation to key issues including Homelessness Prevention, Housing Options, Temporary Accommodation, and Affordable Housing Supply.

The Scottish Government consulted on housing support for homeless households and, following consultation with members, Glasgow Homelessness Network has submitted a final response. The key elements of the response were:

The Welfare Reform Policy Briefing Paper has been produced to inform services about the changes and amendments to the Welfare Benefits System that may impact on individuals using their services.

The briefing is a live document and will be updated on a quarterly basis to reflect changes and further developments to the Welfare Reform Act, including administration arrangements of benefits.

The Scottish Social Housing Charter was approved by the Scottish Parliament on 20^th March and came into effect on 1^st April 2012.

The key changes made from the previous draft are:

Following consultation with stakeholders the SHR has published its new Regulatory Framework which covers all the housing and homelessness functions of all Local Authorities as well as all Registered Social Landlords.

Through the risk-based and proportionate approach to the regulation of social landlords they will:

The Scottish Government published this consultation in February 2012 and set out 10 proposals:

A series of events were held throughout the city inviting Voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering organisations that provide essential services to many of Glasgow’s most vulnerable citizens had the opportunity to actively shape planning and decision-making in Scotland’s largest city. The Third Sector Forum was created to ensure that the 3^rd sector is an equal partner in decision and planning of services in Glasgow.

Glasgow City Council has been implementing a phased approach to widening priority need definitions in relation to age since September 2010. Until recently, everyone assessed as homeless under the age of 21 or 30 years of age and over was assessed as being in priority need.

A change was implemented on 1^st April 2012 whereby everyone assessed as homeless aged 25 and over is in priority need. This means that only those assessed as homeless aged 22-24 will not be in priority need unless they fit another priority need category.