1980 to 1994

 
Glasgow Homelessness Network was originally known as the Glasgow Council for Single Homeless (GCSH).  GCSH was set up in 1980 by a number of people whose names are still significant in the homelessness and social inclusion agenda: Hamish Allan, David Wiseman and David Donnison to name only a few.  GCSH began as a 'meeting of minds', bringing together those working in homelessness who understood then that housing and social care are both needed to prevent and alleviate homelessness.
 
It is difficult to understand, from today's perspective, how radical and innovative that idea was then. But the homelessness legislation and its Code of Guidance had only recently come into effect in Scotland, and the impact on single homeless people of the rationing of housing through the four hoops (homeless, priority need, intentionality and local connection) was being recognised and acknowledged, although it was largely hidden in the wider development of new rights for people who could get through the rationing hoops.
 
Single homeless people did not have a right to housing except in very limited circumstances. So GCSH was set up as a 'council' (ie a meeting of minds) to bring together the statutory and voluntary agencies to ensure that the accommodation and social care needs of single people who became homeless in Glasgow could be addressed in some way.
 
The city had a history of a few large scale hostels in all sectors and model lodging houses, primarily set up initially for working men. GCSH worked to bring housing and social care planners, providers and policy makers together to maximise and coordinate the support and resources available for single homeless people. By 1985 staff were being appointed and GCSH began to work directly with young homeless people, in recognition of growing numbers and the need for specific provision. The organisation continued to work on encouraging a strategic and multi agency approach to homelessness alongside its innovative services for young people, and represented the voluntary sector in planning for future developments.
 
For the next seven or eight years GCSH performed the dual role of representative body and service provider. Encouraging and promoting good practice standards across the range of service providers in all sectors was also part of the organisation's everyday work. All this depended on a committee of knowledgeable and experienced individuals with a very strong commitment to positive change in the service offered to single homeless people.
 
New legislation in 1987 and 1988, creating new tenures and amending the homelessness duties placed on Local Authorities, was followed by research on the operation of the Code of Guidance and later amendments to the Code. In 1990 the foundations of Community Care were laid, but housing came late to the Community Care debate, and homelessness was barely mentioned in the discussions. In the same year, the Conservative government introduced the Rough Sleepers Initiative in London, as a way of keeping the streets of the capital city more acceptable to wealth producing tourism and city business. It was later extended to the rest of England and Wales. Around this time in Glasgow, in contrast, the innovative Hamish Allan Centre one stop shop, and the equally innovative scatter flat programme was set up, reflecting the City Council's commitment to single homeless people and the discussions at the heart of GCSH.
 
In the first half of the nineties, case law across the UK continued to result in ever more restrictive application of the legislation until eventually the Awua judgement seemed to suggest that homeless people were not entitled to permanent housing at all! The Scottish Office Housing Division, and most Scottish Local Authorities, including Glasgow, were concerned about what this would mean for some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in Scottish communities. Scotland's tradition of council housing was being challenged by depletion of stock caused by the right to buy enshrined in the legislation. The City Council meanwhile began to research a hostel reprovisioning programme.
 
GCSH continued to raise the issue of single homelessness within a wide range of forums, to campaign for improvements in policy and practice, and to provide its services to homeless young single people, in an increasingly difficult policy environment. Eventually the accommodation service for young people was closed after a long and exhausting debate with funders, and the organisation needed to take stock of its intentions in a wholly changed environment.