Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group minutes: October 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Màiri McAllan MSP, Co-Chair, Cabinet Secretary for Housing
• Cllr Maureen Chalmers, Co-Chair, Community Wellbeing Spokesperson, COSLA
• Aaliya Seyal, CEO, Legal Services Agency
• Alison Watson, Director, Shelter Scotland
• James Stampfer, Change Lead, All in for Change
• Kate Polson, CEO, Rock Trust
• Lorraine McGrath, CEO Simon Community Scotland
• Maeve McGoldrick, Head of Policy & Communications, Crisis (deputising for Matthew Downey)
• Maggie Brunjes, CEO, Homelessness Network Scotland
• Michelle Major, Change Team facilitator, Homelessness Network Scotland
• Ruth Robin, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
• Shea Moran, Programme coordinator, Aff the Streets
• Matthew Sweeney, COSLA
• Mike Callaghan, COSLA

Officials

• Sean Neill, Director of Housing, Scottish Government (SG)
• Matt Elsby, Deputy Director Better Homes, SG
• Janine Kellett, Head of Homelessness Unit, SG
• Karen Grieve, Homelessness Team Leader, SG
• Kerry Shaw, Homelessness Team Leader, SG
• Louise Thompson, Homelessness Policy Manager, SG
• Carrie Duggan, Homelessness Policy Officer, SG
• Debbie McCall, Deputy Director Ukraine Resettlement Operations, SG
• Frank Martin, Housing Emergency Team, SG
• Emily Foster, Private Secretary, SG

Apologies

• Angela Keith, SOLACE
• John Mills, Co-Chair, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers
• Pat Togher, Chief Officer, Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership
• Richard Meade, CEO, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations
• Stephanie Millar, Policy Manager, Scottish Women’s Aid

Items and actions

Intro from Cllr Chalmers

Cllr Chalmers welcomed everyone to the meeting and invited the Cabinet Secretary for Housing to give her initial reflections having been in post for a few months. The Cabinet Secretary acknowledged the challenge of the large number of homeless households in the context of the latest quarterly figures on new housebuilding and affordable housing supply. The Housing Emergency Action Plan (HEAP) is designed to deliver lasting change. It aims to end children in unsuitable temporary accommodation; support communities most at risk of homelessness; and build homes across all tenures. The Housing (Scotland) Bill, now passed by parliament, includes important provisions such as ‘ask and act’ and Awaab’s Law, and will complement the HEAP.

Change Team

Michelle and James from the Change Team shared a preview of their peer-to-peer research programme, informed by engagement in Aberdeenshire, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Perth and East Dunbartonshire. They concluded that relationships are the most important thing when putting policy into practice and reflected on the positive impact a good worker can have on someone.

Housing Emergency

Frank Martin gave an overview of the Housing Emergency Action Plan, highlighting the progress made to date on delivery.

Alison Watson said it was very good to see housing quality and supply at the heart of the HEAP but raised concern about pace and restoring confidence given recent supply statistics.

Maggie Brunjes welcomed the HEAP’s focus on vulnerable households and the investment in Housing First.

Lorraine McGrath highlighted that there are many more new Scots. While this cohort will initially have low support needs, these needs may develop if they are not assisted to move on rapidly from temporary accommodation.

James agreed that good insultation is needed but noted that there is no insultation on the kerb. He asked the Cabinet Secretary if social housing could be exempt from some regulations so that they can be built quicker and cheaper during the housing emergency.

The Cabinet Secretary replied that the regulations in place – including fire safety, accessibility, sustainability – are non-negotiable. She is committed to climate goals but stressed the need for balance to avoid reducing supply and is exploring modular builds and simplified standards.

Housing (Scotland) Bill

Matt Elsby said that there had been over 700 amendments at Stage 2 of the Housing Bill and 400 at Stage 3, which included 18 hours of debate. The passing of the Bill is a landmark achievement, and focus will now shift to implementation.

Maeve McGoldrick asked if this group could have a role in and focus on the implementation of the new prevention duties and the transformation of public services.

Lorraine McGrath said that this group has a role to play in shifting the ownership of upstream homelessness prevention to a wider range of public bodies.

Alison Watson agreed with Lorraine that we need to move the focus to upstream prevention. She noted that many HPSG members deal with people who have been failed by services that could have intervened earlier. She said that we need to reflect where we are on the ending homelessness together action plan and its task and finish groups.

Ruth Robin felt that prevention must be embedded in public services and population health; otherwise, people with multiple and complex needs will wait longer for care. She asked about the capacity of public services to ‘act’.

The Cabinet Secretary agreed that the duty to ask and act is a cross-government endeavour, and we need to work up the chain. She is open to views on the function of this group in relation to the duties. She agreed with Alison that a stocktake of where we are on the ending homelessness together action plan and the four task and finish groups would be helpful.

Action: provide an update on the various plans and recommendations that HPSG currently oversees.

Refugee and asylum seekers and homelessness pressures

Cllr Chalmers set out that there are 15 hotels for asylum seekers currently operated by Mears, which local authorities have no control over. There were 6,100 homeless applications made by refugees in August, which equates to 0.1% of Scotland’s population. Cllr Chalmers added that Scotland does not have access to the UK Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund, which was provided to selected local authorities in England to obtain and refurbish property.

Cllr Chalmers has written to the Home Office Minister of State, setting out the position and challenges in Scotland and looks forward to meeting with him in a few weeks. The key concerns noted in her letter are the reduction in the move on period from 56 days to 28 days for single people and the pausing of the family reunion scheme when there are still a lot of people in the system.

Cllr Chalmers highlighted Scotland’s unique New Scots Integration Strategy and advised that COSLA is developing a community cohesion strategy.

The Cabinet Secretary said that the Scottish Government will not roll back the rights of any homeless household in Scotland, especially in a housing emergency. She commented on the problems some of the language used was causing and restated her commitment to promoting community cohesion. She has also written to the Home Office to press for faster pace, proper resources and sustainable solutions.

Maeve McGoldrick set out the work Crisis is trying to do to give people longer term tenancies to give them stability and prevent them from having to move into the homelessness system. Alison Watson, Aaliya Seyal and Lorraine McGrath all welcomed the progressive approach to refugee homelessness from COSLA and the Scottish Government. Alison noted that there has been a weaponisation of housing shortages and homelessness to create division and that Shelter Scotland will continue to reinforce the point that local connection and priority need have nothing to do with this issue.

Lorraine McGrath made a plea for more sensitive language to be used by some local authorities as they risk reinforcing the rhetoric of the far right.

Care leavers subgroup

Janine Kellett acknowledged the unequal risk of homelessness, including for care leavers for whom a pathway to prevent homelessness has been developed. There has been some criticism that momentum with implementation of the actions in the pathway has not been maintained. The Scottish Government has committed resource to drive implementation of the eight recommendations in the care leavers’ housing pathway.

A subgroup of HPSG chaired by Kate Polson will be established to oversee delivery and reporting. The subgroup will report back at the next HPSG meeting on its first meeting planned for early November focused on changing systems, cultures and practice to support young people effectively.

The Cabinet Secretary thanked Kate in recognition of all that needs to be achieved in terms of the Promise.

Conclusion and thanks

Cllr Chalmers concluded the meeting by thanking everyone for their participation and suggested it would be good to hold the next meeting in person.

Action: Look to identify a date and venue for an in-person meeting for the next HPSG.