Prevention of homelessness duties
By Eileen McMullan, SFHA Policy Lead.
In December 2021, the Scottish Government and COSLA launched a consultation on Prevention of Homelessness Duties. The aim of the consultation is to produce legislation in the upcoming Housing Bill, in year two of the parliament, with a focus on the development of wide-reaching prevention duties. Specifically, it is looking at:
- introducing new duties on a range of public bodies and landlords to prevent homelessness, both in acting on a risk of homelessness and responsibilities relating to strategic and joint planning
- changing existing homelessness legislation to ensure homelessness is prevented at an earlier stage, including a proposal to extend the duty to take reasonable steps to prevent homelessness up to six months beforehand.
The consultation paper can be found on the Scottish Government’s website and SFHA will be organising a briefing session with members to inform our response.
If you have any queries, please contact me by emailing emcmullan@sfha.co.uk