Housing options (PREVENT1) statistics in Scotland: 2021 to 2022

Outcomes

Over half of housing options approaches result in a homelessness application

Chart 6: Outcomes of housing options approaches, 2021/22

While 5% of outcomes were a Local authority / Registered social landlord (LA/RSL) tenancy, many of those who make a homelessness application will also go on to a local authority or registered social landlord tenancy.

Nearly all (99%) housing options approaches in Clackmannanshire have an outcome of ‘made homelessness application’.

East Dunbartonshire had the highest proportion with an outcome of ‘remained in current accommodation’ at 88%. East Dunbartonshire notes that this was a result of utilising the COVID-19 Tenant Grant Fund to help households.

Fife continued to have the highest proportion with an outcome of Local authority / Registered social landlord tenancy at 28%.

East Lothian continues to have the highest proportion with an outcome of private rented sector tenancy at 26%.

Across Scotland, it took an average of 116 days to close a housing options case (that did not result in a homelessness application). This has decreased from 160 days in 2020/21.

The time to close cases varied greatly by local authority, which may be reflective of the differences in housing options service provision and case management between local authorities.

North Lanarkshire had the highest average length of time at 389 days, although this is a substantial reduction compared to the previous two years (847 days in 2020/21 and 611 days in 2019/20). North Lanarkshire note that this is due to ongoing efforts to provide training for recording and reviewing of Housing options cases with the still relatively high figure for 2021/22 due to a delay in closing cases on their management information systems.

East Dunbartonshire and Inverclyde have seen their average time to close housing options cases decrease significantly from 36 to 3 days and 198 to 100 days respectively. Both noted this was a result of utilising the Covid-19 Tenant Grant Fund which made delivering financial assistance a more streamlined process enabling cases to be closed quickly.