Current status: Answered by Paul McLennan on 27 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations in the Shelter Scotland report, In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation, how it will work with local authorities to improve allocation policies and ensure that these take account of a child’s ethnicity and cultural background, age, disability, number of siblings, special educational needs and neurodivergence when providing temporary accommodation.
Although there is a clear legal framework within which allocation policies must operate, local authorities have considerable discretion within these constraints to develop their allocation policy and practice to meet the needs of the communities in which they operate.
The code of guidance on homelessness aims to guide local authorities in their duties to assist people who are threatened with or who are experiencing homelessness. It sets out that local authority staff should ensure that accommodation and services are offered on the basis of a thorough assessment of the applicant's support or health needs and that these needs are addressed in a holistic fashion. We remain committed to a fuller review of the code of guidance on homelessness, in consultation with stakeholders – including those who represent the interests of children – once the new homelessness prevention measures have been introduced.
The Scottish Social Housing Charter sets out the outcomes and standards that all social landlords should be delivering for their tenants and other customers. This includes an outcome (outcome 12) that describes what councils should achieve by meeting their statutory duties to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Scottish Ministers will review the current charter in 2026-27 in consultation with stakeholders and this will provide an opportunity to ensure the charter continues to focus on matters that are important to tenants and others that use social landlord services.