Preventing homelessness and strengthening tenants’ rights
New legislation which aims to keep people in their homes and help prevent homelessness has been published.
The Housing (Scotland) Bill will introduce an ‘ask and act’ duty on social landlords and bodies, such as health boards and the police, to ask about a person’s housing situation and act to avoid them becoming homeless wherever possible.
It also reforms provision for people threatened with homelessness up to six months ahead and includes provisions for tenants experiencing domestic abuse.
The Bill will outline proposals for a New Deal for Tenants, a key part of the Bute House Agreement between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Green Party.
Proposals include long term rent controls for private tenancies, new rights to keep pets, decorate rented homes and stronger protection against eviction.
Housing Minister Paul McLennan and Tenants’ Rights Minister Patrick Harvie will lead the Bill’s passage through Parliament.
Mr McLennan said: “Scotland already has the strongest rights in the UK for people who become homeless – but nobody should have to experience the trauma and disruption of losing their home.
“Early action, through the kinds of measures included in the Housing Bill, results in fewer people reaching the point of housing crisis. It also means people facing homelessness have more choice and control over where they live, helping them to maintain relationships in their community and stay in work.”
Mr Harvie said: “A fairer, well-regulated rented sector is good for both tenants and landlords. Tenants benefit from improved conditions and security, while good responsible landlords will thrive when their good practice is recognised by regulation.
“Scotland has led the way across the UK in improving the experience of people who rent their homes and this reform has been at the same time as significant growth in the size of the private rented sector. So progressive reform can lead to better conditions and a healthy rented sector overall.
“I want to keep working with both tenants and landlords to achieve that goal.”
THE housing bill published today by the Scottish Government fails to address the systemic issues driving the housing emergency, Shelter Scotland has said.
The charity warned that there was no realistic prospect of councils being able to fulfil new statutory obligations given that local authorities are regularly failing to meet their existing legal duties.
The bill’s publication comes in the wake of figures which show a significant decline in the delivery of social homes, which Shelter Scotland says is essential in tackling the systemic issues driving the housing emergency.
Shelter Scotland Director, Alison Watson, said: “There is a growing consensus that Scotland is in the grip of a Housing Emergency. Already four local authorities have declared housing emergencies, with more expected to follow in the coming weeks.
“Today’s housing bill was an opportunity to address the causes of that emergency and end the scandal of 10,000 children trapped in temporary accommodation.
“What we need is urgent action to drive up the supply of social homes, invest in local services and stop to councils breaking existing homelessness laws.
“Instead, we have a Housing Bill that does none of that and risks diverting frontline staff from the task in hand. By proposing new additional duties on councils already failing to deliver existing laws, we run the risk of making the situation worse.
“It is time for Scottish Ministers to listen to what our communities are telling them – declare a housing emergency and bring forward a new plan to deliver the social homes we need.”
Responding to the Housing (Scotland) Act being published, Citizens Advice Scotland Housing spokesperson Aoife Deery said: “The pandemic and cost of living crisis underlined the need for better protections for tenants and more affordable housing. In many ways the market is simply broken and urgently needs repaired.
“The CAB network in Scotland gives out hundreds of thousands of pieces of advice a year on housing, and it was one of the top areas of crossover advice – where people seeking help with housing also needed help with something else, often social security, debt or energy bills. In fact a third of all single working age households contacting CABs do so for advice on housing.
“We welcome this once in a generation opportunity to improve the rented sector and shape a fairer system. We look forward to getting into the detail of the Bill, change needs to happen with both landlords and tenants involved, we will be contributing our evidence as this work moves forward”
Cyrenians welcomes the introduction of the Housing (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament today. Long awaited, the new prevention or ‘Ask and Act’ duties included within it have the power to reach people before they become homeless and get them the right help, much faster.
‘Ask and act’ forms the cornerstone of a wider set of reforms to homelessness legislation. If passed, the Bill will require public bodies – including healthcare and justice agencies to implement systems whereby people at risk of homelessness are easily identified and directed to the appropriate services before they reach crisis point.
These duties will implement recommendations from the Homelessness Prevention Task and Finish Group (co-chaired by Crisis and Cyrenians), published in August 2023 [click here to read the Group’s report].
The group drew on its collective knowledge of the housing sector, as well as the lived experience of people who were homeless, through the All in for Change programme.
Throughout the process, building up to the publication of the Housing Bill, Cyrenians has consistently argued for increased funding to resource new prevention duties. We will continue to advocate for the necessary resource that our public bodies and local authorities will need to make the promise of the Housing Bill possible.
Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive of Cyrenians, said: ““Scotland is in the grip of a housing crisis. Several local authorities have now formally declared a housing emergency as the numbers of people facing homelessness is reaching record levels.
“But we know from our work across 60 services in Edinburgh, the Borders, Falkirk and the Lothians, that in many cases homelessness can be stopped long before people reach crisis point.
“To do that we need to widen the scope of responsibility, giving people within public bodies the right training and resource to be able fulfil this role. We believe that this, a public health approach to homelessness, is key to tackling the housing crisis.
‘We are very pleased to see the plans for prevention duties within the Housing Bill, published today. This legislation has the potential to prevent homelessness in Scotland. However, to do that, it needs to be properly resourced.
“As a charity which tackles the causes and consequences of homelessness, we regularly work with people whose situation could have been prevented, if they had received help earlier. We urge the Scottish Government to ensure that these duties are properly funded so that the bill can live up to its potential.”
Cats Protection has welcomed the new Housing (Scotland) Bill, which will for the first time give renters the right to own a pet.
The charity’s Advocacy & Government Relations Officer for Scotland, Alice Palombo, said: “This is a landmark day for renters in Scotland, who will finally be given the right to own a pet with an end to blanket ‘no-pet’ policies.
“We hope this new law will stop the misery faced by animal lovers who have been denied the chance to ever own a pet cat, simply because they rent rather than own their own home.
“People in rented housing pay significant amounts of their income every year on fees and rent, and it is only right they should be able to feel at home in that property. Pet ownership – whether it’s a cat or another companion animal – provides companionship to all sorts of people. Whether it’s older people at risk of loneliness or young families with children learning how to care for others, pets play a vital role in our lives.
“We’re particularly pleased to see the Bill introduces an obligation for local authority and social landlords to publish a policy relating to domestic abuse. Cats Protection operates a free fostering service for cat owners fleeing domestic abuse, but many victim-survivors can struggle to find cat-friendly housing. We hope that domestic abuse policies will include a commitment to ensuring victim-survivors can keep their pets when they settle into new housing.
“A survey by Cats Protection and Dogs Trust found a lack of sufficient pet-friendly rented housing in Scotland, with only 22% of Scottish landlords allowing pets. This puts a strain on rehoming charities, and landlord-related issues is one of the top reasons for cats coming into our care.”
The Housing (Scotland) Bill was informed by three public consultations and will now by scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament.
