Homelessness

Scotland’s land, property and construction sectors must collaborate more effectively to help end rising homelessness and deliver more affordable homes, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has said today. The professional body is asking those who work in the industry to pledge their

Putting people with lived experience of homelessness at the centre of the solution is key, writes Ewan Aitken as he blogs on Shelter Scotland’s Homelessness Conference. I was very pleased to be asked to chair the Shelter Scotland Homelessness Conference last week. It’s the kind of thing I really

The Scottish Health and Homelessness Conference 2017 is being held today hosted by NHS Health Scotland at the Surgeon’s Hall in Edinburgh. Attended by over 150 delegates, the event aims to bring people together from different sectors to hear from key speakers about recent research and practice and

Angela Constance Support has been stepped up for young people at risk of being pushed into homelessness due to UK government changes to housing benefit, social security secretary Angela Constance has said.

Homelessness campaigners have called for empty shops to be opened up to provide shelter for rough sleepers following the death of a man in Glasgow city centre. The man, who was believed to be homeless, was discovered on Tuesday morning in the city’s Trongate area and charities fear that freezing t

Alison Watson A new National Homelessness Strategy for Scotland, which is informed and designed with input from people with lived experience of homelessness, is the only way the root causes of homelessness can be tackled, a conference will hear today.

Housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland has welcomed calls from the chief inspector of prisons for more help for inmates during transition and highlighted the important role that safe and affordable housing can play. David Strang said that greater work is needed to address the challenges f

The number of homeless applications received by Argyll and Bute Council has fallen by 15% since 2012. Figures show that 47% of households given housing options advice at an early stage were assisted to remain in their current accommodation.

Councillor Frank McAveety with the homelessness easement card and IWS resources Glasgow City Council’s Poverty Leadership Panel (PLP) has launched a pocket sized information card to help homeless jobseekers.

Homeless people in Perth and Kinross met with MSPs from the Scottish Parliament’s local government and communities committee when they visited Churches Action for the Homeless (CATH) this week. CATH offers support to those homeless or under threat of homelessness who might otherwise have gone unde

Ewan Aitken Ewan Aitken of homelessness charity Cyrenians blogs ahead of Shelter Scotland’s Homelessness Conference 2017

Glasgow women facing a life on the streets met with MSPs from the Scottish Parliament’s local government and communities committee when they visited Simon Community Scotland and Legal Services Agency yesterday. By speaking to women in housing crisis, and frontline street team staff, the MSPs explo

A group of MSPs from the Scottish Parliament’s local government and communities committee met with Edinburgh’s homeless community at the Streetwork crisis centre yesterday. By speaking directly to people in housing crisis and frontline support staff, the MSPs explored how people are accessing ho

Unexplained variations in the use of benefit sanctions are “unacceptable” and must be addressed, according to a committee of MPs. A new Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report into the use of benefit sanctions has revealed jobcentres and providers use them “inconsistently”, with some Work Pro

A joined up approach used by Glasgow City Mission has resulted in the number of people using its winter night shelter decreasing from last year’s record count. An average of 27 homeless men and women have used the emergency shelter during December and January with a maximum capacity of 40 only bei