Bringing Hope, Building Futures: Tackling child poverty delivery plan 2026-2031 – annex 6: Impact of policies on child poverty

Ending child homelessness

We will continue to work to end child homelessness, supporting homeless families in temporary accommodation to find settled homes as soon as possible, and help women and their children affected by domestic abuse to leave an abusive environment and build a more stable future. High housing costs contribute to poverty and can put people at risk of homelessness. These measures are designed to ensure that everyone has a safe, decent and affordable home.

The measures include: continued investment in rapid rehousing; creation of a new national fund to leave; learning from our investment in homelessness prevention pilots; requirement through the Housing (Scotland) Act for social landlords to have a domestic abuse policy; and implementation of part 2 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021.

Actions included

• Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (Continuation) - £8m
• Learn from homelessness prevention pilots (Continuation) - £N/A
• Strengthen support for women experiencing domestic abuse (New) - £N/A
• Fund to Leave (Continuation) - £2m

Total investment in 2026/27 - £10m.

Impact of actions committed

Type of impact

Where homelessness cannot be prevented, we know that helping people into settled homes as soon as possible (avoiding long stays in temporary accommodation) offers families the best chance of a more stable future. Measures to respond to homelessness once it has occurred have an indirect impact on poverty rates.

Potential size

We are investing £8 million in rapid rehousing to help all 32 councils prioritise settled housing for families and reduce the need for many forms of temporary accommodation.

The national Fund to Leave is estimated to help up to 1,800 women and their children. Of the 15 homelessness prevention pilots, three involve work with families and will contribute to learning on how we can better support families in housing precarity.

The provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 will mean that every social landlord will be required to have a policy that sets out how they will support their tenants experiencing domestic abuse. Part 2 of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 will give social landlords the power to apply to the court to end a sole tenancy of a perpetrator of domestic abuse or end a perpetrator’s interest in a joint tenancy, enabling the victim (and often her children) to remain in the family home.

Certainty

Evidence shows that poverty in childhood is a strong predictor of homelessness in adulthood.

Data shows that domestic abuse is a leading cause of homelessness for women in Scotland. Strengthening protections for women and children experiencing domestic abuse should greatly improve their housing outcomes.

Priority families targeted by the actions

The investment in rapid rehousing is targeted at all homelessness households, including families. The Fund to Leave is targeted at women and children experiencing domestic abuse, including women with no recourse to public funds. The homelessness prevention pilots cover all households at risk of homelessness but three of them are specifically targeted at families.

Tracking progress

We carry out routine monitoring on the impact of our investment in rapid rehousing. Homelessness statistics provide regular data about the number of children in temporary accommodation and the time spent there. The Fund to Leave will be evaluated to assess how many women and children were supported and how it improved housing outcomes. A programme of research into the homelessness prevention pilots is currently being commissioned. This will gather and assess available data on outcomes to support the production of a robust monitoring and evaluation framework for the duties.