Mark Griffin (Central
Scotland) (Lab)
A report from the Salvation
Army found that overall funding for homelessness and
housing support services fell by 18 per cent from 2013-14 to
2019-20. It asks whether there is
“the necessary investment to achieve this transformational
change”
that we want to see.
The Salvation
Army also found significant differences between the
amounts requested and received in RRTPs. The amounts were
substantial—almost all local authorities received less than they
had requested. One local authority received 2.5 per cent of what
it had requested.
The Presiding
Officer
Please conclude.
Mark Griffin
If we are to truly end homelessness and prevent it in the future,
we need to make sure that our public services are funded to
deliver on their new duties.
I move amendment S6M-03018.1, to insert at end:
“; notes that homelessness in Scotland is rising again, that in
2020-21 over half of the approaches to Housing Options Scotland
resulted in a homelessness application, and that 14,161
households were assessed as homeless in the six months to
September 2021; believes that the nation’s homelessness crisis is
severe and persistent, with one in 12 people in Scotland being
forced to experience the trauma of homelessness; notes the
findings of the report, Homelessness in Scotland, prepared by The
Salvation
Army, which found that the overall level of funding for
homelessness and housing support services had decreased by 18%
between 2013-14 and 2019-20 and asked if ‘the necessary
investment to achieve this transformational change’ was being
delivered, and the Crisis publication, Homelessness Monitor:
Scotland 2021, which found that ‘the primary barrier seen to risk
inhibiting future progress on the [Ending Homelessness Together]
Action Plan’s vision relates to resources’, and calls on the
Scottish Government to ensure that funding to Scottish local
authorities is adequate to ensure that the implementation of the
prevention of homelessness objectives and other landmark
projects, like Housing First, are not at risk.”
Willie Rennie (North East
Fife) (LD):
The work that was done at the outset of the pandemic shows what
could have been done if we had set our minds to it. We got lots
and lots of people off the streets. It was immediate action—the
money was found and the difference was made. However, the reality
is that, for years before that, funding had been cut—by 18 per
cent, according to the Salvation
Army...
The Cabinet Secretary for
Social Justice, Housing and Local Government ()
Mark Griffin talked about the comments of Crisis and the Salvation
Army in relation to funding. I make the point that some
of those comments predate the announcement of and additional £50
million in the programme for government. I will talk about
resources later, because the subject was raised by a number of
members...
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