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Main National Trends
Applications
8. The number of applications to councils for assistance each year under the homelessness legislation, which had remained between 40,000 and 45,000 per year in the mid to late 1990s, increased rapidly from 2000-01 to a high point of about 60,500 in 2005-06. Changes in duties to provide temporary accommodation to all those assessed as homeless and the expectation that higher proportions of applicants are likely to be assessed as priority need in order to meet the 2012 commitment are likely to have encouraged applications from households who previously would have received advice and assistance only.
9. The most recent figures indicate that that, for Scotland as a whole, numbers applying for assistance, which levelled out in 2006-07, have begun to fall. The 56,609 applications in 2007-08 represent a drop of 4.9% over 2006-07 (Chart 1)
).
10. In recent years, the observed increases in levels of applications have primarily been due to the increase in the numbers of single-person households applying, together with a more modest increase in applications from single parents (Chart 2). Legislative change is likely to have been an important driver of this increase as single applicants have benefited most from the changes. However, some of the increase may also reflect wider social change with increasing proportions of young people living independently as well as an increase in the rate of household dissolution following breakdown of relationships. The reduction in applications since 2005-06 is also mainly due to a reduction in applications by single person households.
Assessments
11. Of the 56,609 applications in 2007-08 40,299 were assessed as homeless or potentially homeless, 32,111 were assessed as priority and 1,677 had yet to be assessed at the time of the analysis. (Chart 1 and Table 1). Those with a priority assessment represent 79.7% of those assessed as homeless. This is a 3.0 percentage points increase over 2006-07 which in turn was a 1.2 percentage points increase over 2005-06. (chart 1 and table 3). The proportion of homeless households assessed as priority measures progress against national indicator 28 - "All unintentionally homeless households will be entitled to settled accommodation by 2012" 3.
Outcomes
12. As a consequence of the increasing numbers of households assessed as priority, the number securing permanent accommodation has increased markedly since 2001-02 while the number securing hostel accommodation has fallen. (See chart 4 and table 7). The number of homeless households securing a permanent let in social rented accommodation increased from a little under 12,000 and 2002-03 to reach around 17,500 in 2005-06 and 2006-07 falling to around 16,300 in 2007-08. The reduction between 2006-07 and 2007-08 in the number of homeless households securing social rented accommodation reflects a reduction in the total number of homeless households whose cases were resolved in 2007-08. (See table 7)
Temporary accommodation
13. Homeless applicants may be placed in temporary accommodation while the council assesses their application or while awaiting the offer of a permanent let. Also, non-priority applicants and those assessed as intentionally homeless may be placed in temporary accommodation as the outcome of their application.
14. Mainly reflecting the increase in applications since 2001-02, there has been a marked and consistent increase in the number of households in temporary accommodation from around 4,000 at 31 March 2002 to around 9,000 at 31 March 2008 4. (Chart 5). The number of households with children in temporary accommodation has also increased since 2002, and these households currently represent about two fifths (42%) of all households in temporary accommodation.
Note:
Figures for households with children or pregnant women are not strictly comparable prior to June 2005 as previous figures did not include households with pregnant women and no children.
542 of the 9,518 households in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2008 were asylum seekers in Glasgow who have not previously been included in the homelessness statistics. 522 of these were households with dependent children.
Numbers in temporary accommodation in North Ayrshire from 31 March 2003 have been revised significantly downwards since previous publications to correct for previous mis-reporting. See paragraph 30 for a full explanation of the revisions.
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