Temporary accommodation standards framework

Provision of temporary accommodation

There are a range of duties, obligations and responsibilities placed on social housing landlords by legislation and through statutory guidance.

Under section 31 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010, Scottish Ministers, in the Scottish Social Housing Charter (the Charter), set the standards and outcomes that all social landlords^[4] should aim to achieve for their tenants and other service users when performing their housing activities. These include helping people who are homeless, duties around the safety of tenants' homes and promoting equality and human rights.

Social housing landlords also have requirements placed on them by other regulatory bodies, including the Scottish Housing Regulator, the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Care Inspectorate, Audit Scotland, and the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. Landlords must ensure that they meet all of their legal duties and responsibilities and that they adhere to the relevant guidance and requirements of other regulators, including meeting their statutory duties to prevent and alleviate homelessness.

Under the existing regulatory requirements, social landlords, including local authorities, must submit a mandatory Annual Assurance Statement to the Scottish Housing Regulator to provide assurance that their organisation complies with the relevant requirements of chapter 3 of the Regulatory Framework. This statement also sets out the way in which they are addressing any material non-compliance. This includes regulatory obligations that apply to all social landlords and the Standards of Governance and Financial Management that apply to Registered Social Landlords. The mandatory guidance for social landlords provides more detail on the relevant guidance applicable to landlords.

Prevention pathways are being developed and implemented for groups at greatest risk of rough sleeping and who are most represented among homeless figures. For example, the need for a sensitive and targeted preventative pathway that recognises the particular needs of people, mainly women and children, experiencing domestic abuse has led to the development of joint^[5] guidance in 2019. Domestic abuse: a good practice guide for social landlords was published to support social landlords to develop an informed response that:

• prevents women and children's homelessness
• supports victims of domestic abuse effectively
• holds perpetrators to account

Some local authorities already have a domestic abuse policy in place, but it is envisioned that all local authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) will develop their own domestic abuse housing policy using the domestic abuse good practice guide to ensure that the bullet points above are met.

Children placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation can affect the physical and mental health of children in the homeless system in many ways. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 expects public authorities to do all they can to implement and uphold children's rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Temporary Accommodation Standards Framework

The TASF should be applied by all social landlords to their temporary accommodation and also to any temporary accommodation stock used from other providers. This means that all local authorities have responsibility to ensure that the temporary accommodation they provide to fulfil their duty to accommodate homeless households meets this standards framework.

It is understood that there will be challenges and difficulties for local authorities depending on the type of standard, nevertheless, they will be expected to meet all of the standards within this framework.

These standards relate to all types of temporary accommodation to ensure that the quality of temporary accommodation is of good standard and meets all of the needs of the household.

This standards framework covers four main areas of standard levels that should be achieved by all social landlords, including local authorities: physical, location, service, and management.

The following standards, built on the 2019 Homelessness Code of Guidance^[6] advisory standards, promotes that a person-centred, trauma-informed, rights-based approach should always be taken when assessing a household's needs.

Physical standards

The following details the physical standards that should apply across all tenures to ensure that the temporary accommodation provided is an adequate, safe, and secure space for the household.

This should include:

• accessible accommodation that is able to meet the needs of any disabled person^[7] within the household^[8]
• accommodation that should comply with relevant housing quality standards, Scottish Housing Quality Standards, health and safety, hygiene, smoke, fire, furniture and electrical equipment legislation and regulations
• access to units that are secure with individual locks^[9] so people feel that they and their belongings are safe
• access to facilities to secure personal mail, where appropriate
• access to sufficient bedroom space to meet the needs of the household in line with the overcrowding^[10] and HMO standards^[11]
• accommodation with adequate communal living space which includes, for example, space for children to play or do homework
• adequate toilet and personal washing facilities for the exclusive use^[12] of the household
• access to on site laundry facilities^[13]
• adequate cooking facilities^[14] for the needs of the household
• includes a suitable standard and level of furniture to meet the household's needs, where relevant^[15]
• is in a good standard of cleanliness and adhering to enhanced cleaning measures as set out by Public Health Scotland when necessary, in response to public health concerns
• provides a sufficient and affordable heating system^[16] at an acceptable efficiency rating in line with those published in the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing and those for Private Rented Property
• is accessible 24 hours a day with no curfews
• includes a household assessment to consider whether the temporary accommodation offered is affordable^[17] by the household
• allows access to digital technologies^[18], where possible, to increase households' digital inclusion, enabling access to online facilities, e.g., welfare benefits, choice based letting systems, etc
• provides the means to support people to maintain relationships with their pets^[19]; and
• facility to allow visitors^[20], including provision for visits from children, where possible

Location standards

When considering offering a household temporary accommodation, it is important to discuss with the household the location of the property and its proximity to services and local amenities.

The following points should inform decisions on the location of temporary accommodation:

• the accommodation provided should be located so that the main essential services used by a household can be reached by foot, by public transport or by transport provided^[21] by a local authority, where possible^[22] - services include education, school/nursery, supermarket or convenience store, doctors, dentists, support or other health providers and advice agencies (where applicable)
• the location of the property should also take into account the needs of all household members in terms of reasonable access to place of employment and formal or informal support networks^[23]
• cultural^[24] or religious need should also be identified and met through the location of accommodation, where possible
• the location of the accommodation also needs to take into account the social and economic needs of the household
• an assessment of personal safety^[25] of the household, specifically households experiencing domestic abuse^[26] – predominately women – and whether the temporary accommodation being offered is in an area that is close to the perpetrator's family and/or is too far from children's school, social networks, etc - where the perpetrator has left the family home, the personal safety assessment should ensure that the perpetrator is not offered temporary accommodation close to the victim or the victim's family

Service standards

For some families, a stay in temporary accommodation can be long term as they wait for a suitable permanent property to become available. It is crucial that households receive a consistent standard of service delivery and housing support in order to sustain their temporary accommodation and facilitate a move into settled accommodation. The National Care Standards provides more detail on housing support.

All tenants should have their individual needs recognised, be treated fairly and with dignity and respect, and receive fair access to housing and housing services^[27].

Service delivery standards include:

• assess the needs of all members of the household and provide services informed by that assessment - this should be followed-up with referrals and support to enable households to engage with the relevant housing, health, education, social care service and independent^[28] advice services
• provide information about service provision in a variety of formats to assist the tenant's understanding of their right to support^[29]
• assist the tenant to exercise their rights if the support they are entitled to is not realised
• support to access different types of accommodation^[30] allocated on the basis of gender, especially where households are experiencing domestic abuse and the accommodation is mixed gender and/or is only staffed by a single gender
• ensure staff in homeless and support services receive domestic abuse^[31] training
• provide single-gender accommodation for households experiencing domestic abuse
• offer support for households to access flexible and ongoing needs-led support, specifically where households have multiple and complex needs, and offer a case coordination approach for households where various services are involved
• offer support to access the necessary information of the appropriate services, including counselling, addictions, mental health, domestic abuse, medical, dental, optical and money/welfare advice to signpost the household to relevant and available support
• create Psychologically Informed Environments, where appropriate and, if required, ensuring staff have been trained in trauma informed care to ensure person-centred needs are met
• conduct regular reviews of household's needs on a case-by-case basis, agreed by the household, and taking into account any change in circumstances;
• conduct regular home visits^[32], where appropriate and where agreed by the household, to allow allocated officers to identify any unmet needs of the household
• ensure there is ongoing communication with the household, including easy access to housing officers to discuss issues, and ensure that any information provided is available in different formats and an interpreter is provided where necessary

Management standards

The following standards will ensure that a resident is aware of their rights and responsibilities during their stay in temporary accommodation, including any organisational procedures that they need to follow. The household should be provided with relevant information at the time of moving in or relocating to alternative temporary accommodation and supported to understand the information. Ensuring that people's rights are realised in practice with easy routes to redress and dispute resolution can help to ensure the best possible outcome for the household.

This includes ensuring:

• a legally compliant, written occupancy agreement is in place and has been explained to the household which includes an agreed minimum amount of notice (at least 24 hours) that a landlord must give before accessing a person's property/unit and under what circumstances they would give such notice
• there should be clear communication^[33] about tenants' rights and what tenants can expect, to ensure people have redress - this includes advising or assisting a person in understanding and managing their tenancy rights and responsibilities^[34], including assisting a person in disputes about those rights and responsibilities and signposting to independent advice and advocacy
• ensure that prescribed housing support services^[35] are provided to homeless applicants when needed^[36], irrespective of whether a homelessness assessment has taken place or the applicant is waiting on a decision on their homelessness application, to ensure a consistent approach is taken to the provision of rights advice
• information on any house rules has been provided, including an appropriate set of procedures to demonstrate that anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated and how to report anti-social behaviour from other residents or neighbours, especially in shared accommodation
• information on the social landlord/local authority repairs procedure has been provided, including on how to report a repair, and the timescales within which a repair should be carried out. Tenants should be included in any consultation on the repair timescales for their property
• the household is provided with, or can access, all relevant information applicable to any needs of the household identified as part of the homelessness assessment process, while in temporary accommodation, and this information is available in different formats
• information on the notice period^[37] to end an occupancy agreement, including the right to appeal, is provided
• procedures are in place to ensure there is minimum disruption to the household when moving in and out of the accommodation and the household is made aware of any support^[38] available to help with the move
• procedures are in place to protect personal possessions and provide support, advice, and information on storage where necessary
• that residents are involved in all discussions surrounding their needs, including relocation and changes to occupancy agreements
• that households are aware of their social landlord's/local authority's complaints procedure, which should be clear and in various formats - the way in which households access this information should be included in the local authority's occupancy/tenancy agreement, which is provided to the tenant when they are offered accommodation
• that staffing levels need to match those required to meet the services and support for individuals or households - support and training should be made available to staff to ensure that they are equipped to do their jobs and can meet the requirements of the standards and understand the needs of people experiencing homelessness - this applies to those staff directly employed by the local authority and those who are contracted to carry out the duties of the local authority
• that households are provided with a rent statement of charges, including any additional costs that are associated with temporary accommodation and how they are paid