North Ayrshire Council has been praised by Finance Secretary John Swinney for adopting preventative measures to homelessness.

The Council’s housing service has been refocused on preventing people becoming homeless in the first place, rather than simply responding to the problem itself.

The homeless prevention and advice service is delivered by a centralised team and is intended to "enable individual households to make informed housing decisions based on their own needs and aspirations."

According to the Scottish government, it has resulted in homeless presentations dropping by 49% over four years.

Mr Swinney said: "What this Government really wants to see is people not becoming homeless in the first place. I am delighted that the Scottish Government has recently provided an extra £300,000 to help councils work together to help prevent people becoming homeless. This money will help to ensure that more councils continue to adopt a way of working similar to North Ayrshire Council.

-- Advertisement --

"The Council is to be commended for its fresh thinking approach to dealing with a very serious issue. Its specialist teams are focused on helping people not become homeless in the first place. Through talking through all possible options with an individual they have a much better opportunity to secure a planned rather than crisis move. This results in a reduction of permanent mainstream housing required for homeless people which, in turn, creates a shorter waiting time for mainstream applicants.

"They have also taken the innovative step of actively offering mediation and negotiation services for those individuals who could safely return home rather than become homeless. This option will not be appropriate in every circumstance but where it can offer a positive outcome for individuals the difference is marked.

"Planned moves rather than a crisis move can be much less stressful for the individual and also result in savings for the Council budget as temporary accommodation is very expensive. These savings can then be reinvested in other public services."

(IT/GK)