Could the Scottish Government be Working Harder to end Homelessness?
In October this year, the Scottish Government released their ‘Ending Homelessness Together’ annual report, which was deemed a success overall. In the same report, it states the number of homelessness applications received have decreased. Yet, the number of households in temporary or no accommodation has increased. Should Scotland be working harder to end homelessness?
According to the Scottish Government’s statistics bulletin, from April 2020 to March 2021, there were 42,149 people in homeless households – 30,345 adults and 11,804 children - an increase of 15% from 2019. Though these statistics don’t include people that fall under a ‘hidden group’. These hidden groups include ethnic minorities, migrants, and victims of domestic abuse. To combat this, the Scottish Government are in the process of researching ways to better understand those who are or in imminent risk of homelessness, but don’t appear in official figures.
There are several reasons for a person to find themselves unable to manage a permanent home. One of the most prominent is substance misuse. According to Public Health Scotland, the average Scottish person drinks 9.8 litres of alcohol per week – this is around 18 units, which is significantly higher than the recommended 14 per week.
A report by Alcohol Rehab states that 38% of those who suffer with homelessness are also alcohol dependant, a further 26% are dependent on other drugs. Despite some preconceived notions, substance misuse is often a result of homelessness, not a cause. Many homeless people turn to substances to gain relief from the stressors around them. This dependency can make it harder to manage not only a stable home, but also a stable relationship with money, mental health, and other people.
Kevin Lafferty, from Perth, was homeless and living in a hostel. He said: “Living in the hostel was an overall difficult time for me. It exacerbated pre-existing drinking and gambling addictions I had because of the stress of waiting three years for a flat.
“I was stressed because of the system of the place (the hostel), seeing people move in and out, living with strangers and my friends leaving meant I was constantly distressed. I don’t believe the staff were there because they truly cared. I’m living in my own place and sober now, though.”
The BBC recently reported that 256 homeless people died as a result of a drug overdose in Scotland in 2020, this is an increase of 40 from the previous year. It could be considered that the stress of being homeless during a global pandemic made more people turn to illegal drugs. With many vital organisations either closed or working from home in the wake of the pandemic, such as local councils, the support system that many homeless people rely on just wasn’t there.
Dundee is one of Scotland’s poorest cities, but also the fourth largest. In the Scottish Government’s statistics bulletin, it was stated that Dundee reported a 9% increase in homeless applications from April 2020 to March 2021, meanwhile being one of the worst hit with Covid-19 cases. The Eagles Wings Trust, a Dundee-based charity focused on supporting homeless people, had to reduce the assistance they can offer due to decreased funding and backing from Dundee City Council.
The Guardian wrote on this, stating: “The pandemic has forced a change to its (The Eagles Wings Trust) usual work; the former evening soup kitchen and afternoon drop-in centre has been reduced to a daily food-bank service, with a clientele that is more diverse than ever.”
The ‘Ending Homelessness Together’ report states that “the rapidity and effectiveness of our collective response to COVID-19 has resulted in a dramatic reduction in the numbers of people sleeping rough.”
Simon Community Scotland, a non-profit homeless charity, received funding from the Scottish Government to bring rough sleepers into safe accommodation, the Alexander Thomson hotel, for the duration of Covid. This was due to the increased safety risk. However, despite efforts to keep those most vulnerable safe – nine people died of Covid-19 within safe accommodation and a further 31 died, of other causes.
Sean Clerkin of the Scottish Tenants association told the Glasgow Times: “More than 40 homeless people died in Glasgow in 2020 despite the fact that they were taken off the streets and placed in hotel and bed and breakfast accommodation to protect them from COVID-19. It is clear that 71 percent of homeless deaths in Scotland were due to drugs, alcohol and suicide which means that homeless people never got access to joined up services in mental health care, drugs, and alcohol recovery. The Scottish Government has to take full responsibility for this calamity.”
According to UK legislation, the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001, requires every Scottish council to provide the minimum of temporary accommodation, advice, and assistance to all applicants that are assessed as homeless, regardless of their priority rank. However, the average waiting time for a homelessness application to be assessed and approved – or not, is 16 days. This leaves the applicant with over two weeks of uncertainty and in some cases, nowhere to go.
Kevin said: “It took two weeks after my initial interview with the hostel for me to move in. Luckily, I had a foster carer I could live with at the time. I didn’t know anyone in Perth, so I wouldn’t have had anywhere to go.”
This is usually when charities such as Simon Community Scotland (SCS) step in. Hugh Hill, Director of Services at Simon Community Scotland said: “We are a charity wholly focused on homelessness, we work with people who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The majority of the people that we work with have complex needs.
“What that means is that homelessness is a consequence of a journey, and quite often that journey starts in childhood. Trauma has a big impact. Quite often the people we work with are involved in alcohol and drug use at a very early age. This is self-medicating their trauma.
“To some extent we’re almost a trauma charity that works with people with serious mental health issues, severe drug issues and physical health problems. Quite often these people have got a long experience of being excluded from services, of being stigmatised, or being let down.
“We support over 5000 people a year. We have street teams out working with people who are really the most vulnerable. We have emergency accommodation, supported accommodation and hubs like this (their newly built Argyle Street hub within Glasgow).
“We can do anything from looking after your dog to sorting you out with housing. Putting a roof over someone’s head is obviously very important but isn’t necessarily the biggest issue in their lives.”
“There’s about 35,000 people a year that will present themselves as homeless. The people we work with here at Simon Community are a small part of that. There’s a number of reasons for homelessness to be increasing, especially in the last year. For example, accumulation of debt, job loss, family breakdowns. Homelessness in Scotland was actually going down until recently. It’s very difficult to give an accurate picture of the last year and a half because it has been so unusual.
“The easiest thing you can do if you see someone you think is struggling with homelessness is to save our freephone number into your contacts and call the number to refer the person on.”
Scotland is definitely making moves to better support those who find themselves homeless, this is shown by the ambitious plans outlined in their annual report. However, things aren’t progressing fast enough. The most effective route for rehabilitation would be to fund more emergency and supported accommodation so that homeless people have a secure space firstly. From there, comprehensive but not compulsory support should be offered to help with any other issues that may be present i.e. drug addiction, debt management.
Too many people were left out in the cold -literally- during the many Covid-19 lockdowns. If it weren’t for organisations like Simon Community Scotland coming together for our homeless community, who would?