The Homelessness Prevention Fund will support housing associations and social landlords to work with their tenants to prevent crisis and stop families from becoming homeless.

A commitment of the Scottish Programme for Government, the money will support families through accessible financial advice to reduce household costs, employment support, and in emergency situations, can also be paid directly to families.

Making the announcement on Scottish Housing Day last week, housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “We want to eradicate homelessness for good and we recognise the important role of social landlords in helping us achieve this, especially through the preventative measures this fund can help with.

“Housing associations offer so much more than places for people to live – they support tenants through a range of services from financial and employment advice to linking up with health and social care. This fund is an important step forward in joining up services and making sure that everyone in Scotland has a safe, warm place to call home.”

Sally Thomas, Scottish Federation Housing Associations CEO, said: “The Programme for Government provided a number of measures to help our sector continue its work to provide great homes in great places to live.

“We welcome the new £1.5m Homelessness Prevention Fund for social landlords to assist low-income families and look forward to exploring with the government and members the scope of the Fund.”

The Homelessness Prevention Fund will also provide a range of support for low-income families who may also access support from other new funding. The support includes an additional £4m for initiatives to enhance family incomes by improving access to work and work progression.

It also includes £500,000 for a new Family Learning Scotland Programme to help parents gain new skills through learning and training and £1m to build on good practice and help improve the life chances of young parents and their children.