A Holyrood plan to tackle the homeless crisis was hampered by underfunding, a senior councillor has claimed - even as he hailed its success despite the problems of Covid and the cost of living crisis.
As the Rapid Rehousing Transition Programme (RRTP) enters its final year councillors noted that West Lothian has achieved success in tackling the numbers of homeless teenagers in the county.
And George Paul, the senior councillor responsible for housing said: “In some circumstances we have done miracles but the RRTP was never going to work because we never had the funding.”
READ MORE: West Lothian demand for social housing outstrips supply by 300%
The Executive approved the annual report of the working of housing officers in trying to tackle homelessness.
The RRTP was introduced by the council at the behest of the Scottish Government in 2019. West Lothian had sought £3m for the initial programmes but had only received £1.8m.
Some of the £1.2m deficit was covered by the council’s own funding but the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis has fuelled the housing problems across Scotland beyond all projections.
Senior housing officer Sarah Kelly, Housing Needs Manager, had already highlighted to councillors that demand for social housing was now outstripping supply by 312%. The council had only 500 let-able properties in the last year.
Rising living costs have brought a surge in people leaving private rented accommodation, either by reason of eviction or the loss of confidence because of the uncertainty of tenure as landlords have deserted the market in huge numbers.
“We try as hard as we can to meet demand”, Ms Kelly told the meeting, “ but even if we gave over 100% of lets to the homeless we would still not cover demand.”
The RRTP was initially designed to ensure that vulnerable people including those with children did not languish in temporary B&B accommodation but were instead offered secure stable tenancies as quickly as possible.
Initially the programme worked. Ms Kelly said in her report: “Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there were positive reductions in homeless demand and the use of temporary accommodation. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a material impact on the progress made by the majority of Local Authorities.”
She added: “Whilst reductions in homeless demand were not achieved in 2022/23 and length of stay remained high in temporary accommodation, the RRTP was successful in suppressing this demand from rising further and reducing the number of placements in temporary accommodation through a variety of activities.”
The report detailed the success the housing department had seen, particularly in reducing the numbers of 16-17 year olds classed as homeless by 11% in the year.
A range of temporary housing solutions including shared spaces and supported accommodation is in the process of being developed. More former council homes are being bought back into council ownership and the council has developed stronger links with the private sector to take on more housing.
Changes in legislation including allowing people to present as homeless in the county without family connections to the area have impacted on the council. Ms Kelly confirmed in a response to a question from councillor Kirsteen Sullivan that no Holyrood resources had been given to the council to address the consequences of changes in the law.
Councillor George Paul compared the RRTP’s initial proposals to the new plan for a National Care Service as an aspiration foisted upon local councils by the Scottish Government without proper funding from the start.
He said that whatever their successes west Lothian and other councils would not be able to tackle homelessness with proper funding for new homes.
“We are doing some miracles but we need more funding. The RRTP is never going to work because it was never funded properly”.
Councillor Sullivan told the meeting: “I appreciate things are extremely challenging in the [housing] service. I certainly have many people come to me every single week with housing issues but I do think it's important to call out the critical work where the service has had some success, in particular around youth homelessness.
“I think we had a presentation fairly recently around the work being done to help prevent young people from becoming homeless. I think that is invaluable. I see we have had 11 percent reduction in applications from 16 to 17 years olds. I can't think of anything more important to a young person to have a stable roof over their head, somewhere to call their own. I think having that stable base allows them to move on with other areas of their life.”
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