Shelter Scotland

By Emma Dore at Shelter Scotland This week the Scottish Government released the annual Homelessness Statistics. In general, the statistics paint the same picture as last year with headline trends staying the same. The numbers of homeless applications and assessments as homeless continue to go down (

A new programme aimed at preventing homelessness and reoffending by newly released young offenders was launched in Scotland on Wednesday. Young offenders aged 16-21 in HM Young Offenders Institute Polmont will benefit from the expertise of advisors from housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotl

Margaret Burgess A national approach to homelessness prevention has been praised for contributing towards a sixth consecutive annual fall in the number of people who are homeless.

Margaret Burgess A new fund has been launched which aims to create additional residential accommodation in Scotland’s urban and rural towns.

Jimmy Black You are looking for your first rented flat, and a landlord says "give me £200 and I'll keep this flat for you. But back out and the money's mine". Would you know this was an illegal premium? If the landlord then said: "Leave the place in good order and I'll give you back a month's rent"

Graeme Brown Reforming Scotland’s private rented sector to make it fit for the 21st Century and fair for all is the theme of a major conference taking place today.

Hundreds of Scottish Gas employees, their friends and families, walked, jogged or cycled for miles through Bo’ness on Sunday, raising thousands of pounds in support of the housing and homelessness charity Shelter Scotland. Participants in the ‘British Gas Treks Britain 2015’ event had the choi

Pictured: Kristen Hubert of the Empty Homes Partnership and Shelter Scotland's Graeme Brown launch the national empty homes helpline The Scottish Empty Homes Partnership has appealed to members of the public to report empty homes in their communities using a free national helpline.

Ellie Hutchinson, Private Renting Project Manager, introduces Shelter Scotland’s national private tenants forum. Running in four local areas, and supported by a national online presence, this forum aims to strengthen private tenants’ voices in policy formation. A house is more than bricks and mo

Robert Black A major report has called for a radical look at the future direction of housing policy in Scotland and links the benefits of having a decent, safe and secure home to better health and life chances for all.

New controls over private sector rents would price visitors out of staying in Edinburgh during the festivals, letting agents have claimed. David Alexander, managing director of DJ Alexander, said he fears fewer flats would be available for short-term rent under proposals drawn up by the Scottish Gov

By Adam Lang, head of communications & policy at Shelter Scotland Shelter Scotland believes that the proposed reforms to the Private Rented Sector (PRS) tenancy that the Scottish Government is due to bring forward later this year represent a positive and progressive step forward and are sorely n

Margaret Burgess The Scottish Government is ahead of its five-year target to deliver 30,000 affordable homes by March 2016, despite a decrease in the number of social sector homes being built.

Shelter Scotland has published a paper which sets out the principles it believes should underpin further devolution of social security - including housing benefit – to the Scottish Parliament, and what steps the Scottish Government and UK governments should take in relation to the devolution of so

People in Scotland facing bad housing and homelessness will now be able to access free, housing, money and debt advice via their computer, tablets and mobile phones – with one-to-one support and signposting provided digitally from housing advisors. The new digital advice service has been launched