Eleven housing association projects have received funding from the Scottish Government’s £1.5m Homelessness Prevention Fund (1). The fund supports projects that contribute to reducing child poverty and preventing homelessness.
The 11 projects will also aim to meet the recommendations of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (2) to:
- Accelerate upstream prevention activity across local authorities and housing associations, up to six months prior to homelessness
- Test and target homelessness prevention approaches across wider public services, including for those at risk of eviction due to rent arrears or income shortfalls; those experiencing, or at risk of, domestic abuse; or women engaged in commercial sexual exploitation.
The three-year programme is being administered by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) on behalf of the Scottish Government. To facilitate sector learning, SFHA will report on the projects’ progress.
Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “We want to eradicate homelessness and rough sleeping for good, and social landlords play an important role in helping us to achieve this ambition.
“Housing associations offer so much more than places for people to live — they support tenants through a range of services, from financial and employment advice to linking up with health and social care services.
“This fund is a key step forward in joining up services and making sure that everyone in Scotland has a safe, warm place to call home.
“I look forward to seeing the outcomes from these projects which will deliver positive change around reducing child poverty and preventing homelessness from happening in the first place.”
Sally Thomas, SFHA Chief Executive, said: “SFHA welcomes this funding from the Scottish Government which will provide vital support for housing associations’ homelessness prevention work. Scotland’s housing associations and co-operatives play a key role in tackling and preventing homelessness, and this funding will further strengthen the work they do.
“We hope that these projects will be able to be replicated across the social housing sector, so we can get closer to achieving the shared ambition of ending homelessness in Scotland.”
The eleven projects are being run by:
- Barrhead Housing Association
- Irvine Housing Association
- Paisley Housing Association
- Queens Cross Housing Association
- Fife Housing Alliance (comprising Kingdom Housing Association, Fife Housing Group, Ore Valley Housing Association and Glen Housing Association)
- Langstane Housing Association
- Clydebank Housing Association (in partnership with Dalmuir park Housing Association and Knowes Housing Association)
- River Clyde Housing Association
- Glasgow Housing Association (in collaboration with Homefinder UK)
- Cloch Housing Association (in partnership with Oak Tree Housing Association, Larkfield Housing Association and the Simon Community Scotland)
- Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association
2. The Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) was set up to recommend to Scottish Government Ministers the actions and solutions needed to eradicate rough sleeping and transform the use of temporary accommodation.
