In the latest episode of the Scottish Housing News Podcast, Kieran Findlay and Jimmy Black ask whether the Unsuitable Accommodation Order for temporary homeless accommodation is fit for purpose?
Govan Law Centre’s Women Right’s Project Solicitor, Sophie Berry discusses the issue along with Councillor Jane Meagher, the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work convener at the City of Edinburgh Council.
You can listen to the Scottish Housing News podcast here or below.
In 2022/23, Scottish Government homelessness statistics confirmed that:
there were 3,525 breaches of the Unsuitable Accommodation Order, up 74% from 2,025 in the previous year;
the number of homeless applications increased by 9% (3,247) from the previous year to 39,006;
32,242 households were assessed as homeless, an increase of 10% (2,903);
the number of open homeless applications – applications that are not yet completed – at 31 March 2023 increased to 29,652, up 15%, the highest level on record;
there were 445 cases of households not being offered temporary accommodation when they should have been, down 38% from 715;
there were 15,039 households in temporary accommodation on 31 March 2023, an increase of 6% (825). Households spent an average of 223 days in temporary accommodation, an increase of 9 days; and
79% of households assessed as unintentionally homeless secured a tenancy with a social landlord, the same percentage as in 2021/22.
