Rapid Rehousing Sub Group minutes: August 2025

Attendees and apologies

John Mills, Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) (Chair)

Christine Robertson, Aberdeenshire Council

April Thomson, Falkirk Council

Annabel Pidgeon, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA)

Douglas Whyte, Tayside, Fife & Central Hub Rep

Maggie Brunjes, Homeless Network Scotland

Grant Campbell, Homeless Network Scotland

Lee Valantine, South Lanarkshire Council

Kevin Thomas, South West Hub Rep

Marie Forsyth, North Ayrshire Council

Ruth Robin, Healthcare Improvement Scotland

Brian Finch, Scottish Government

Janine Kellett, Scottish Government

John Sharkey, Scottish Government (note taker)

 

Apologies

Donna Mcilwraith, South West Hub Rep

Tim Pogson, Scotland’s Housing Network (SHN)

Yvette Burgess, Coalition of Care and Support Providers in Scotland (CCPS)

Suzie Fitton, SFHA

Mike Wright, Edinburgh Cyrenians

Items and actions

Opening remarks and minute of the last meeting

 

JM opened the meeting, confirming that the meeting would mainly be focusing on reflecting the deep dive into rapid rehousing at the last meeting in April and would include a deep dive into Housing First (HF).

 

The minute of the 13 January sub group meeting was ratified.

 

Reflections on April’s rapid rehousing deep dive and further discussion

 

MB confirmed meetings with the hubs are scheduled and she will report back to the group on these discussions at the next meeting.

 

JM spoke about future Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan (RRTP) funding, which he advised was being raised by the Assocation of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO) at a meeting with the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing.

 

JK provided the current position on rapid rehousing, referencing the £100m Ending Homelessness Together Fund commitment from the Scottish Government, which runs to 2026-27, its ninth year. She also emphasised that despite the commitment, it was still necessary for officials to make a case for funding each year, evidenced by outcomes delivered and how funds are helping the transition to rapid rehousing.

 

JM asked whether it might be useful in advance of the next group meeting to gather feedback from local authorities on where they are on mainstreaming of activity funded through RRTP funding.

 

JS confirmed that the 2024-25 RRTP return template issued to local authorities, which focuses on outcomes delivered through RRTP funding, also contains a question around mainstreaming. The deadline for the return is 3 October.

 

JM advised that his take from meetings with the Cabinet Secretary is that she has a particular interest in flipping of properties being scaled up. He suggested that this may be a theme that RRTP next step proposals could be built around.

 

MB sees the next steps as an opportunity to demonstrate the potential for rapid rehousing to evolve and show how it can help prepare for the introduction of the new prevention duties.

 

LV pointed to the main reasons for homelessness still being young people being asked to leave and domestic abuse, which required a prevention led approach, involving a range of partners, including health, education is needed.

 

JK agreed on the importance of a prevention led approach with housing supply as a key ingredient. She spoke about RRTP funding being initially provided for five years to support local authorities to transition to rapid rehousing. However, with a number of events, including the pandemic, disrupting progress she asked the group what a revised transition period would now be.

 

JM said that many local authorities are looking to increase suitable temporary accommodation stock in order to meet their legislative duties, while rapid rehousing is about reducing reliance on temporary accommodation.

 

CR spoke about Aberdeenshire councils mediation officer post, funded through RRTP money, to address a high number of presentations from young single people leaving the family home. She concluded that action needs to be taken earlier through education; however, buy in from education partners is difficult to achieve.

 

KT confirmed that they have an education programme in North Ayrshire aimed at S4 pupils. There are currently positive discussions ongoing with education partners around rolling this out wider to S1-S4 pupils.

 

RR asked the group what the destination point looked like for rapid rehousing.

 

JM advised that for him it would be not placing people in bed and breakfast, hotels or other forms of unsuitable accommodation while getting people into secure tenancies. JM said a measure of success is that we see greater numbers in (suitable) temporary accommodation.

 

JK said while she would not see increased numbers in temporary accommodation as a success, she accepted that it is not a failure in the current climate. In response to Ruth’s question, she said that she would hope the original vision of rapid rehousing remains, i.e. to move people into a settled, mainstream home as quickly as possible to minimise time in temporary accommodation.

 

JM agreed but pointed to the housing emergency and the need for local authorities to reduce failures to accommodate, acknowledging that as supply gradually increases local authorities can start to reduce those numbers.

 

DW spoke about Argyle and Bute using RRTP money to help with engaging  partners outside of housing. A mental health/addictions post has delivered good outcomes, saved money and reduced referrals to accident and emergency. However, not yet having had time to convince partners of these benefits, he was concerned by any removal of funding. He asked whether Scottish Government funding might be prioritised for joint initiatives to help encourage partner contributions.

 

Member updates

 

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA)

 

AP highlighted that the upstream homelessness prevention pilot fund will reach its second checkpoint stage in September. Also highlighted was homelessness research being carried out looking at registered social landlords (RSLs) contribution to homelessness, including section 5 referrals.

 

Healthcare Improvement Scotland

 

RR advised that the work on data linkage project is still ongoing and it is hoped that the report can be launched in 2026.

 

Housing First (HF) update and deep dive

 

BF updated the group on the latest housing first monitoring statistics for the period 1 October 2024 to 31 March 2025. These will be published on the Scottish Government website following approval.

 

Housing First Deep Dive

 

GC and MB presented to the group on the HF check up process, referencing the draft report, Housing First Scotland Annual Check-up 2024-2025, which gives a comprehensive report of how HF is operating across the country.

 

MB gave an overview of the report, including its seven priorities, recommended for effective expansion of HF.

 

JM reflected the need to reinvigorate HF either as a part of rapid rehousing over the next five years or as a standalone initiative.

 

BF advised that Scottish Borders decided to withdraw HF mainly due to a lack of buy in from partners rather than a lack of impact or effectiveness.

 

RR feels that with such a high tenancy sustainment rate HF can make a good economic argument for partners, such as health and social care, to become actively involved.

 

On the role of RSLs, GC confirmed the picture across the local authorities is mixed and can depend on whether a local authority has its own stock or relies on RSLs to provide accommodation.

 

MB confirmed that getting HF on the agenda of the Homelessness Prevention and Strategy Group (HPSG) would be an ideal next step.

 

Janine advised there was no date set yet for the next HPSG meeting but that advice is due to go to the new Cabinet Secretary for Housing.

 

JM brought the meeting to a close.