It’s time for an update! We are halfway through Year 2 of Homeless Housing Options Scotland, and we have been busy bees – both in terms of helping people facing homelessness, and in our efforts to make things better in the sector for those people, and the people working to support them.
As of September 30th, we have been delighted to support 160 people facing homelessness with their housing options. These cases have come from 23 of the 32 local authorities in Scotland.
The effects of the cost of living crisis have started to emerge, with clients noting that they have been struggling to cover rents and bills. A whopping 50% of homeless clients have been members of the Armed Forces community. We’ve continued to see a spike in older people being asked to leave long term private lets.
We have continued to support our clients with a tailored, person centred approach. We offer One Named Contact to all of our clients to help them navigate and deal with homelessness.
Our engagement programme has continued to stretch across the sector and to prospective clients. Our “Homeless First Aid” project, which offers free training sessions to third sector organisations around Hidden Homelessness, has been delivered across the country.
Our “Intervention and Connection” project – in which we have been speaking to Local Authority homelessness teams about the challenges they face in dealing with the groups we work with – with an aim to encourage partnership working, has continued apace, with 17 sessions delivered so far. We have been encouraged by the response this and have been working collaboratively with many local authority staff to deliver housing solutions for people facing homelessness.
Lived experience has continued to inform our work. We have published various case studies with previous clients from all walks of life – and we are truly grateful to those who have shared their stories. We have guest blogs for other organisations including our friends at Cyrenians and CaCHE.
In terms of newer developments, we have also begun work on highlighting issues around equality, diversity and inclusion in homelessness. This EDI work includes collaborating on an initiative with CaCHE exploring homelessness amongst marginalised groups. We have been having extremely illuminating conversations with people who are either working with – or are themselves members of – communities who are protected under the Equality Act. Expect these conversations, with organisations such as LGBT Youth Scotland, and ALACHO, and one with our very own CEO Moira Bayne to be released in the coming weeks and months.
Over the second half of year two we’ll be looking at what worked for us, our friends in the sector and most crucially our clients – and we’ll be looking ahead to the future of Homeless Housing Options Scotland. Stay tuned!