SCOTLAND should look to Nordic countries in a bid to address homelessness and a rise in the number of rough-sleepers, the Scottish Parliament has been told.
Pauline McNeill, a Labour MSP, yesterday urged Nicola Sturgeon to consider a model being used there which she said could be used to address a shortage of emergency accommodation for women and a problem of people being turned away from night shelters.
“It is a sad fact that many people will be sleeping rough this Christmas on our streets – rough-sleeping is a visible scourge in our society,” she said.
“The figures that I have show that there was a dramatic increase in rough-sleeping last year. That trend is likely to continue.
“We know from press reports that Glasgow City Mission and the Bethany Christian Trust in Edinburgh are turning people away from their night shelters. There also seems to be a severe shortage of emergency accommodation for women.”
“Will the First Minister look at two areas of government policy in this regard? First, will she consider initiating national co-ordination to ensure that there is provision for women in emergency night shelters, at least until we can eradicate rough-sleeping and homelessness? Secondly, will the First Minister also look at a model that has been adopted in Nordic countries and used in Glasgow?
“Housing First is simply a model that quickly provides accommodation and permanent homes but, importantly, it wraps the services around the person’s particular problems, which might be the ones that have led them into homelessness in the first place.”
The First Minister said she would consider the work being done by Housing First, though she added that official figures suggested the number of homeless people was decreasing.
“The number of homeless people reporting that they have slept rough before applying for housing support in Scotland has decreased every year for the past five years,” she said.
“However, we know that only those who approach local authorities are recorded. That is why we are working with stakeholders to gather more-robust data on the figures for people who are rough-sleeping and to assess people’s often very complex needs, so that we can continue to take action that will support people to move off the streets and into a home of their own.”
She added: “I thank Pauline McNeill for raising the issue and the constructive suggestions that she has made. I will absolutely consider both of those points. Her point about access to night shelters for women is particularly important.
“Pauline McNeill’s second point, about the housing first model, is something that we are open to looking into, although some of our local authorities already use a model that is not dissimilar in some respects, through their housing options work.”
A dozen areas in Norway have opted for the Housing First approach. The main idea of the model is that having a home is indispensable for establishing stability in a person’s life and should come first – no matter whether the person has not proven motivation to change his or her lifestyle in terms of overcoming alcohol or drug misuse.
In addition, the homeless person is given the opportunity to decide where he or she wants to live and this is followed up by health and welfare authorities as long as necessary.
Their accommodation is located in mainstream residential neighbourhoods, in a bid to prevent ghetto areas.
Glasgow Housing First provides mainstream social housing and 24-hour support to people who are homeless, aged 18 or over and involved in drug misuse.
The service places homeless individuals directly into independent tenancies in Glasgow with no requirement to progress through transitional housing programmes. By sustaining a permanent tenancy in Glasgow, clients are in a better position to access community support, health care and social benefits.
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