I thank the committee for the invitation to speak to our recent report “Housing Options in Scotland: A Thematic Inquiry” and to give evidence to the committee.
We want to highlight that our board selected housing options as the subject for the regulator’s first thematic inquiry not only because our statutory objective includes protecting the interests of people who are homeless or who might become homeless but because the sustained achievement of the 2012 target has been an important focus of our regulation of landlords for some years. We also recognised that the housing options approach had been promoted as a key way for landlords to deliver on the target. A range of views have been expressed about how effective the housing options approach is.
Our board also took into account this committee’s recommendation that the SHR work with colleagues in the Scottish Government to ensure that services that are delivered by a housing options approach are consistent across Scotland and that local authorities are meeting their legislative duties. The thematic inquiry was designed also to address the committee’s recommendation.
It is important to say that the housing options approach is widely recognised as a good policy response to homelessness, but there had not been an in-depth evaluation of its effects. Through the thematic inquiry, we aimed to assess the success of the new housing options approach, its impact on statutory homelessness and what outcomes are achieved for people who seek help from local authorities. It is about getting a national picture of whether the housing options approach is an effective way to prevent homelessness.
It might be worth stating that there has been a very positive response from stakeholders to our recommendations in the thematic inquiry report. On 9 May we published our findings with recommendations, which are focused on the Scottish Government and councils. The intention is that the report will act as a catalyst for improvement. Stakeholders’ immediate reaction to it has been positive. We have been encouraged by the fact that the key stakeholders, which are the Scottish Government, the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, on behalf of local authorities, have already committed to using the report to improve the delivery of housing options in Scotland. They have accepted our recommendations and are already making progress in implementing them.