SCOTLAND can become a world leader in preventing homelessness, the SNP's Housing Minister has said.
“I think we've already got some of the most world-leading rights for homelessness,” Paul McLennan told the Sunday National – adding that the Housing (Scotland) Bill provides an opportunity to go further.
The bill – which passed its first legislative hurdle by passing stage one at Holyrood on Thursday – allows ministers to create rent control zones following a recommendation from local councils.
Within these areas, prices in the private rented sector will not be allowed to rise higher than 1% above the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), up to a maximum of 6%.
It also introduces new laws that will require councils and other public services to take more preventative action when it comes to homelessness.
Relevant bodies, such as health boards or the police, will have to ask if an individual is homeless or at risk of homelessness, and take action if so.
McLennan (above) said there is technically “nothing stopping local authorities from doing that now” but that the bill would evidently legislate them to do so.
He added that there is an important “balance” to strike between tackling homelessness as it happens as well as preventing it.
It comes as new figures released in September showed homelessness at a 10-year high in Scotland, with the number of new homes also among the lowest in recent history.
“We're working very closely with the five local authorities that have got the most pressure on them just now,” McLennan said.
“Edinburgh, for example, reduced its voids by five or six hundred in a really quick period of time. We were working with them, giving flexibility around funding for acquisitions … and that has worked.”
He added: “Glasgow, for example, has had real success in reducing their empty homes.”
“My message to local authorities is that the bill is building on good practices that are in place already.”
Homelessness charity Crisis also believes the housing bill plans have the “potential to make a Scotland a world leader in ending homelessness”.
Maeve McGoldrick, head of policy and communications for the charity, told the Sunday National: “We welcome the Housing Bill passing stage one in its journey towards becoming law – these plans hold the potential to make Scotland a world leader in ending homelessness.
“We’ve been campaigning for new measures to help prevent more people being forced into homelessness for years, and strongly support plans contained in the Housing Bill to help do that."
She added: “But while these new prevention duties could represent a turning point in our efforts to tackle homelessness, to be effective, they need to be supported with the resources required to make them a success.
"We also need plans to scale up homelessness prevention work across Scotland in the meantime, while we wait for the Housing Bill to be passed.”
Meanwhile, there has been some criticism of the Housing Bill’s rent control proposals, with MSPs on a cross-party committee previously saying there is a lack of clarity on how it will work in practice, which may harm investment in the sector.
Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman expressed her “profound disappointment” at the proposals during the debate.
She said: “Limiting councils to capping rent increases at inflation plus 1% is not transformation, it is a capitulation to landlord interests that will perpetuate the very inequalities this bill was meant to address.”
McLennan said in response that it’s “all about finding that balance” and argued that the Housing Bill achieves that.
He said: “It allows investment, but it also gives clarity to renters.”
