Scottish Council for Single Homeless

The Scottish Council for Single Homeless (SCSH) is the national membership body for organisations and individuals working to tackle homelessness.

SCSH's purpose is to promote the best opportunities for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness in Scotland.

Leaving home and homelessness

In 2004-2005 more than 4400 16- and 17-year-olds from across Scotland went to their local authority because they felt they did not have a safe and secure place to stay.

Young people who choose to or who are forced to leave home at an early age usually find living independently a massive struggle. They are simply not used to managing their lives. Leaving home at 16 or 17 means having to learn a lot in a very short space of time. And if things go wrong, like not filling in forms correctly, then the consequences can be extreme, for example, serious debt or eviction.

The accommodation that is available, especially temporary accommodation, is often unsuitable for young people. And if a young person does get his or her own place from the council or from a housing association, he or she often struggles to keep it going. In some parts of Scotland as many as one in three tenancies fail in the first year.

According to the law, a person who does not have a safe and secure place to stay is homeless. So homelessness can include staying in a family home where there is violence or abuse and it can include temporary and unstable arrangements such as sleeping on the sofa at a friend or relative's.

Education can make a difference

If young people know more about the realities of leaving home they can make better choices as to when is the right time for them to make the move.

If young people know more about their rights under law and the range of services that can help them with housing and other issues, then those young people who do leave home at an earlier age have a better chance of enjoying a successful independent life.

Help for teachers

Free downloadable lesson plans that require minimum preparation to use are available at leavinghome.info, the online guide to leaving home and housing for young people in Scotland.

In many areas the council or voluntary agencies can arrange to speak to a class. In some cases, young people who have experienced homelessness can visit the school.

Examples of work in schools and a wide range of education resources on leaving home and homelessness can be found at leavinghome.info.

Streets Ahead is a guide to the whole issue of leaving home and housing aimed specifically at young people. It is available online at leavinghome.info or in an innovative CD carry case. Your local authority may have packs available for use in school or you can purchase packs from The Scottish Council for Single Homeless.

Resources

• leavinghome.info - aimed at young people and those working with young people, includes free lesson plans to download, the online version of 'Streets Ahead: the guide to leaving home and housing for young people in Scotland'. Also includes an online database with details of lesson plans, videos, background information, policy, etc. on leaving home and housing issues.
• The Scottish Council for Single Homeless - The Scottish Council for Single Homeless website with policy and background information on homelessness.     
• The SCSH Practice Bite Database - The SCSH Practice Bite Database provides brief examples of innovative youth housing practice - 'practice bites'. Workers across Scotland can now share their practice by browsing through projects, searching by category, keyword or region, as well as adding their own project to the database. SCSH are always looking for new and innovative examples for the website, so if you are working with young people in housing or related themes and would like to be included in the database, visit the Practice Bites website for contact details.

I'm Offski

The Scottish Council for Single Homeless has developed online versions of housing education resources available to download from leavinghome.info. There are also links to other housing education resources along with an online database with details of lesson plans, videos, background information, policy, etc. on leaving home and housing issues.

One such resource is the 'I'm Offski' pack, an award-winning set of lesson plans with an accompanying video. The original pack was produced in 1988, and is already available in some schools. The I'm Offski site has revised versions of the ‘I'm Offski' lesson plans covering topics such as Household Chores, Getting Advice and Housing Options. They are designed to be easy to print and photocopy.

Policy and legislation

In 2001 the Homelessness Task Force set out a 10-year action plan to tackle homelessness in Scotland. The Homelessness Monitoring Group was appointed by the Scottish Executive (now called the Scottish Government) to support and monitor the implementation of their recommendations and to report to Ministers. This is the most recent report of the Homelessness Monitoring Group.

Young people are legally entitled to leave home at 16.

A person is homeless if they have nowhere safe and secure to stay in the long term. (The precise legal definition is more complex.)

Every person who is homeless is entitled to advice and information from the council.

Depending on age and other circumstances, the local authority has a duty to provide temporary or permanent accommodation.

The government has introduced major new legislation on housing and homelessness since Scottish devolution in the form of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003.

Scottish housing and homelessness legislation is widely regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe. Scottish legislation differs from that in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The rules on benefits are, however, the same across the UK.

Through powers in existing legislation the government is extending the duties of local authorities to help homeless people. By 2012 the government is to give all homeless people - with the exception of those who have intentionally brought about their own homelessness - the right to permanent accommodation.

Training opportunities and events

SCSH offers training in the use of its resources including 'Streets Ahead' and its leaving home and housing lesson plans.

SCSH does training sessions for teachers covering the lesson plans and using 'Streets Ahead' in the classroom. Where appropriate, SCSH also aims to bring together workers from different agencies and with different remits. For example, a session may bring together housing officers, social workers and teachers. As well as giving teachers confidence in the use of the resources, the sessions provide a forum for networking and exchanging ideas on how to help young people with their housing issues. SCSH regularly runs open sessions across Scotland as well as specially tailored sessions for local authorities, schools and other agencies.

For further information on training visit the SCSH website.

Contact details:

Scottish Council for Single Homeless (SCSH)
Wellgate House
200 Cowgate
Edinburgh
EH1 1NQ

Telephone: 0131 226 4382
Fax: 0131 225 4382
E-mail: enquiries@scsh.org.uk

• Email this page
• Print friendly format
• Digg this
• Save to del.icio.us