SCORE Annual Summary Report 2014-15

SCORE is a collection of information from Registered Social Landlords about the new lets they make in a given year.


The Tenants

Household Type

Chart 1 shows the distribution of new tenancies by household type for 2013-14 and 2014-15. The most common household types contained one adult. In 2014-15 almost two-fifths (37.2%) of all lets were made to households containing a single adult only and a further fifth were made to single parent families (20.5%).

Of the remaining household types, those with a single older person were most common (13.9%) followed by those with 2 adults & child/ren (12.3%).

In general the distribution of tenancies by household type is very similar to that in 2013-14.

Chart 1: Tenancies by Household Type 2013-14 and 2014-15

Tenancies by Household Type

Economic Status of Household

Almost two-fifths (37.3%) of households housed by RSLs in 2014-15 were employed (full-time, part-time or unspecified hours), up slightly on the 36.1% in 2013-14 whch itself was up by almost 2 percentage points on the 2012-13 level.

Meanwhile around 3 in 10 (30.6%) households were unemployed, down slightly on the 2013-14 figure (33.7%).

A further 15.0% of households were retired and 9.4% were disabled or long-term sick.

Chart 2: Household Economic Status 2013-14 and 2014-15

Household Economic Status

Ethnic Origin of Main Tenant

The vast majority of tenants housed during 2014-15 were White Scottish (83.1%). The next most common ethnic groups were White - Other British (5.9%) and White Polish (3.9%). Another 1.5% of tenants were of African, African Scottish or African British origin. The 'Other' category, comprising of 14 ethnic groups that individually contributed less than 1.0%, accounted for a total 4.0% of the overall figure. This is a very similar pattern to that observed in 2013-14.

Previous Living Circumstances of Household

As Chart 3 shows, around two-fifths (39.8%) of households reported their previous living circumstances as being some form of temporary or otherwise unsecured accommodation, 2.2 percentage points more than in 2013-14. This consisted of immediate family (14.9%), Bed & Breakfast or temporary accommodation (14.4%) and friends or relatives (10.5%).

Meanwhile another 35.9% of households had transferred from within social housing, down around 3.3 percentage points from 2013-14. This consisted of transfers within the same housing association (Renting from this HA, 21.1%), from another housing association (Other HA/Co-op, 6.9%) or from a local authority letting (Renting: LA, 7.9%).

A further 13.7% had previously been renting privately.

Chart 3: Previous Accommodation Tenure of Household, 2013-14 and 2014-15

Previous Accommodation Tenure of Household

Main Reasons for Rehousing

Overcrowding remains the most commonly cited reason for a household having left its previous accommodation before moving into a RSL home. 16.9 per cent of all tenants housed by RSLs during 2014-15 gave this as the main reason for moving. (Chart 4)

Other common reasons for rehousing were medical or health reasons (13.0%), relationship breakdown or bereavement (9.7%) or that the tenant needed to live independently (9.0%).

Following 2 successive years of increases the proportion of households citing under-occupancy as the main reason they moved fell from 7.0% to 4.2%. These earlier increases are likely to have been at least partly caused by households moving into smaller accommodation to avoid losing out due to the removal of the spare room subsidy in April 2013.

Chart 4: Household Main Reason for Rehousing, 2013-14 and 2014-15

Household Main Reason for Rehousing

Statutorily Homeless Households Housed

28.7% of households were homeless prior to taking up their tenancy in 2014-15, up very slightly from 27.7% in 2013-14. (Chart 5 and Table 1)

Around four-fifths of these (or 23.3% of all tenants) were Statutorily Homeless meaning that they had been assessed as unintentionally homeless by local authorities.

Perth & Kinross recorded the highest percentage of lets to Statutorily Homeless households (35.7%) and indeed all homeless households (40.3%) for 2014-15.

Chart 5: Households declared homeless prior to being housed by local authority, 2014-15

Households declared homeless prior to being housed by local authority

Table 1: Households Declared Homeless Prior to Being Housed, 2013-14 and 2014-15

 

 

 

2013/14

2014/15

Statutorily homeless

Other homeless

Not homeless

Statutorily homeless

Other homeless

Not homeless

Aberdeen City

24.8% 6.0% 69.2% 26.6% 6.3% 67.0%

Aberdeenshire

24.2% 5.3% 70.5% 24.0% 5.1% 71.0%

Angus

20.2% 7.5% 72.3% 19.6% 9.9% 70.5%

Argyll & Bute

19.5% 1.3% 79.2% 23.1% 0.5% 76.4%

Clackmannanshire

19.5% 5.4% 75.1% 17.9% 1.3% 80.8%

Dumfries & Galloway

26.8% 2.8% 70.4% 16.6% 3.9% 79.5%

Dundee City

24.6% 10.2% 65.3% 20.3% 7.9% 71.8%

East Ayrshire

6.0% 3.5% 90.4% 12.1% 1.6% 86.2%

East Dunbartonshire

15.5% 9.9% 74.6% 14.7% 4.0% 81.3%

East Lothian

24.5% 1.1% 74.5% 24.0% 2.4% 73.7%

East Renfrewshire

24.2% 2.3% 73.5% 26.6% 9.2% 64.2%

Edinburgh, City of

28.9% 6.0% 65.1% 34.1% 4.6% 61.4%

Eilean Siar

32.8% 0.5% 66.7% 24.6% 1.2% 74.2%

Falkirk

18.7% 9.2% 72.1% 13.4% 8.3% 78.3%

Fife

20.9% 4.1% 75.0% 21.5% 3.4% 75.1%

Glasgow City

21.8% 7.2% 71.0% 23.1% 7.4% 69.5%

Highland

25.9% 5.8% 68.3% 26.5% 5.8% 67.7%

Inverclyde

18.0% 1.0% 81.0% 14.6% 0.7% 84.7%

Midlothian

26.4% 3.5% 70.2% 30.0% 5.6% 64.4%

Moray

26.4% 3.5% 70.1% 31.9% 2.9% 65.2%

North Ayrshire

17.6% 0.3% 82.0% 20.9% 0.8% 78.3%

North Lanarkshire

10.8% 6.2% 83.0% 13.3% 4.9% 81.8%

Orkney Islands

16.0% 0.0% 84.0% 23.8% 0.0% 76.3%

Perth & Kinross

29.8% 2.0% 68.2% 35.7% 4.5% 59.7%

Renfrewshire

15.6% 5.2% 79.3% 16.4% 2.5% 81.1%

Scottish Borders

21.7% 7.8% 70.5% 24.2% 6.4% 69.4%

Shetland Islands

23.9% 2.8% 73.2% 27.1% 10.4% 62.5%

South Ayrshire

25.9% 3.0% 71.1% 14.5% 4.1% 81.4%

South Lanarkshire

18.1% 5.8% 76.0% 20.5% 7.0% 72.6%

Stirling

15.0% 10.6% 74.4% 29.1% 6.6% 64.3%

West Dunbartonshire

29.0% 5.8% 65.2% 29.2% 3.1% 67.7%

West Lothian

27.1% 9.1% 63.7% 31.4% 4.5% 64.1%

Scotland

21.9% 5.8% 72.3% 23.3% 5.4% 71.3%

Source of Referral

There are a number of different ways in which a household can come to be on a RSL housing list. For example they may apply directly, be nominated by a council or be seeking to transfer from one property owned by that RSL to another.

In 2014-15 the majority of applicants (56.1%) made a direct application to be housed by the housing association - up from 52.8% in 2013-14. Just under a fifth (19.7%) were either nominated by a council (7.2%) or were a Section 5 referral by a council (12.4%) - these being the main referral sources for statutorily homeless households. 14.6% of households were re-housed from another home owned by the same RSL (Internal Transfer), down by around 2 percentage points on the 2013-14 level (16.5%). Of the remaining categories mutual exchange (a swap of accommodation between 2 or more tenants) was the most prevalent with 5.1% of households having been housed in this manner.

Chart 6: Source of referral to Housing Association, 2013-14 and 2014-15

Source of referral to Housing Association

Contact

Email: Andrew White

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