Presentation given by Catherine Jamieson, Homeless Services Manager from the City of Glasgow, UK at a FEANTSA seminar on "Key elements for a successful local homeless strategy: How Europe can support local authorities to improve the fight against homelessness", hosted by the Committee of the Regions, June 2007

1. The justifiable right to housing:
can local authorities deliver?
Catherine Jamieson
Head of the Glasgow
Homelessness
Partnership

2. Introduction
 Challenges for Glasgow in delivering on
homelessness
– Scale of change
– Budgets
– Role of social housing
– Bigger picture issues
 Can local authorities deliver by 2012?

3. Scale of Homelessness In Glasgow
 10,500 households per  39% lost accom because
year family/relatives/friends
 70% single people could no longer accom
them
 25% lone parents and
families  22% priority of addiction
issues
 5% 16/17 year olds
 18% priority dependant
 27% 18/25 year olds
children
 4000 households  7% priority mental health
homeless at any time
issues

4. Challenges for Glasgow -
background
 Warehousing – especially single men
 Not accessing any support services
 Highly visible rough sleeping
 Very high levels of repeat homelessness
 Limited resources to make the change

5. Challenges for Glasgow – the
change
 Led by Parliament
 Change programme partly funded centrally
 Fully committed to partnership working
 Change in direction for service provision -
commissioned
 More decentralised services

6. Challenges for Glasgow – the
change (2)
 Closure of large scale hostels
 Provision of new support services and
accommodation
 Diversion from hostels
 Development of new joint assessments
 Reduction in repeat homelessness

7. Challenges for Glasgow – the
change (3)
 Closed 600+ hostel beds
 Commissioned 518 beds in new supported
accommodation projects
 Commissioned 23 Floating Support projects
supporting nearly 4,110 Households
 Localised initial contact services

8. Challenges for Glasgow – the
change (4)
 Added 500 temporary furnished flats to service
(now 1600)
 Created a homeless health service
 Increased applicants rights – local challenges
and national challenges

9. Funding – annually for Glasgow
 Mainstream budget £29m SWS and £3m Health
 Hostel Decommissioning Budget £18m SWS and
£5m Health
 Supporting People budget grown to £26m
 SWS direct contribution grown to £5m

10. Changing Role of Social Housing in
Glasgow
 Supply greater than demand
 High level of voids and unpopular stock
 Shortages of family and wheelchair housing
 Backlog of homeless households waiting for
permanent accommodation

11. Changing Role of Social Housing in
Glasgow (2)
 Attitudinal issues
 Increase expectations on preventing
homelessness

12. Bigger Picture Issues
 Supply of affordable rented accommodation
 Supply and type of temporary accommodation
 Funding and resource issues, particularly
Supporting People Grant – support issues

13. Bigger Picture Issues(2)
 Corporate working – the role of other agencies
in meeting the wider than housing needs of
homeless people
 People from Abroad and homelessness

14. Can Councils deliver 2012?
Increasingly challenging
because of:
 Increased prevention work expectations
 Ownership of homelessness issues across
organisations
 Supply of affordable accommodation
 Political backing continuing

15. Can Councils deliver 2012?
 The closer we get the more stark the
challenges are!