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Rayner’s rough sleeping funding must be passed on in full to Scotland, charity says
Angela Rayner’s boost to rough sleeping funding in England must be passed on in full to Scottish councils, a charity has said.
Shelter Scotland said the deputy prime minister’s extra support for rough sleepers, announced last week, was a “lifeline” for people experiencing homelessness.
On 20 January, it was announced that the UK government will triple the ‘rough sleeping winter pressures funding’ to £30m to help councils provide emergency accommodation for long-term rough sleepers over the winter.
Shelter Scotland called for any additional Barnett consequentials – which automatically adjust funds given to Scotland based on new spending in England – to be allocated to the Scottish local authorities facing the greatest housing pressures this winter.
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In Scotland, city councils such as Glasgow and Edinburgh are facing the biggest homelessness pressures. The Scottish Housing Regulator has said these two cities are experiencing “systemic failure” in their homelessness services, meaning they are regularly unable to provide temporary accommodation for homeless families.
Alison Watson, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “Extra funding to local authorities would be a lifeline to support anyone experiencing homelessness.
“It is the devastating reality that thousands of children are trapped in temporary homes and the Scottish government and local authorities must work together to tackle the issue.
“The Scottish government has acknowledged that local authorities such as Edinburgh and Glasgow are facing the biggest housing pressures with the highest numbers of children left without a permanent home.
“Extra cash to these local authorities is desperately needed if the Scottish government is serious about ending child poverty and tackling the housing emergency.
“The Scottish government needs to continue with its targeted approach to funding and pass on any additional homelessness cash in full to local authorities facing the biggest challenges. This will have the biggest impact in tackling the housing emergency this winter.”
Scottish housing minister Paul McLennan said: “We have a strong track record in affordable housing, having supported the delivery of 135,000 affordable homes since 2007. That’s 47% more per head of population than England and 73% more than Wales.
“We want to ramp up that delivery by increasing the affordable housing supply budget to £768 million next year. This investment will help tackle the housing emergency while contributing towards our target of 110,000 affordable homes by 2032.
“All consequentials are added to the Scottish block as a whole and Scottish ministers will decide how best to allocate resources. As part of this process we will always consider what support can be provided to housing in Scotland.”
Shelter Scotland’s call for Edinburgh to receive more homelessness funding represents a moment of rapprochement after the charity called for the city’s leaders to be removed last month.
The dispute began after City of Edinburgh Council voted to ask the Scottish government to relax homelessness in December, including a ban on the use of unlicensed HMOs (houses in multiple occupancy) to house homeless people.
Shelter Scotland accused the council of stripping homeless households in the city of their human rights, but the council said this was “factually incorrect and misleading” and that it had written to the charity’s director.
