Earlier this year, the All in for Change team’s Taking the Temperature National Roadshow toured the country to find some answers to this question. It also sought to find out how the emergency is affecting people at risk of homelessness and the staff trying to support them, what is getting in the way of improving things and what’s going well despite the pressures.

The Change Team spoke to 146 people on their travels to Aberdeen, Clydebank, Falkirk, Greenock and Kirkcaldy, including frontline workers and people who have experienced homelessness as well as local authority staff, managers and councillors.

They wanted to hear directly what’s going on across the five Housing Options hubs, and gauge progress towards achieving All in for Change’s 4 New Directions – the priorities the Team has identified that will make services work better for people.

The report sets out what the Team heard and fed back to colleagues on the Scottish Government and COSLA Homelessness Prevention Strategy Group last week.

Their evidence is captured in eight calls from the frontline of the housing emergency – what needs to happen now on prevention, housing supply, culture change, caseload levels, creating more joined-up services, harnessing community assets, and more.

In summary, people at the frontline of the housing emergency have asked the Team to:

1. Refocus on rapid rehousing and continue to put Housing First, first
2. Take a targeted approach to people most at risk of homelessness and work with them to prevent homelessness
3. Increase housing stock by focusing on empty homes, turning over voids and getting repairs done as a priority to make more social housing available for those who need it
4. Broker better relationships between local authorities and the private rented sector to encourage letting to households who want to use the private rented sector
5. Put people first by making it easy for people to get the help they need – more face-to-face services and a greater community presence
6. Increase the understanding of data sharing rules (GDPR) so that this doesn’t get in the way of building a system with No Wrong Door
7. Continue to roll out training and increase support for 7 practice that is trauma-informed
8. Decrease caseloads and huge pressure on staff working in housing and homelessness to create the space and time needed to develop trusting relationships and good vibes

All in for Change is made up of people who know what homelessness looks and feels like through experience. Homeless Network Scotland and Cyrenians facilitate All in for Change, which is funded by the Scottish Government and Frontline Network.

By learning from the wider knowledge and experiences of people and services, the Change Team can use its platform to influence change. And by supporting their findings, you can be a part of that ambition too.