Homelessness - Annual Benchmarking Report 2024-25
Renfrewshire Council · 13 January 2026
Back to Communities and Housing Policy Board — 13 January 2026 and its agenda
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PUBLIC ___________________________________________________________________ To: Communities and Housing Policy Board On: 13 January 2026 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Homelessness: Annual Benchmarking Report 2024/25 ___________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 The Policy Board has been provided with regular reports over the last 3 years on the changing nature and scale of homelessness in Renfrewshire. 1.2 The Council also submits annual returns to the Scottish Government on a broad range of homelessness measures and indicators. The Scottish Government then publishes national homelessness statistics, and the figures for 2024/25 were published in September. 1.3 Through membership of ‘Scotland’s Housing Network’, the Council has now been provided with a summary produced by the SHN of where it was performing well against other local authorities in 2024/25 and identified areas for improvement based on a review of the published statistics. 1.4 This report summarises the findings and tables produced by ‘Scotland’s Housing Network’ following their review of the Scottish Governments homelessness statistics. ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Communities and Housing Policy Board: 2.1 Note how the Council performed in relation to key homelessness related issues in 2024/25. __________________________________________________________________
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PUBLIC 3. Background 3.1 Renfrewshire Council is a member of ‘Scotland’s Housing Network’ (SHN) which collects data from participating landlords and produces benchmarking information. The benchmarking data from SHN allows the Council to then compare performance with 26 local authorities. 3.2 Benchmarking is designed to assist with service improvement planning through comparison with other organisations. Key benchmarking results on homelessness are summarised below. 4. Homelessness Benchmarking report – 2024/25 4.1 The national picture Homelessness applications in Scotland fell slightly in 2024/25, marking the first drop in four years with 40,688 applications, down 1% from the previous year. Pressure on temporary accommodation continued to grow however, with 17,240 households in temporary housing at the end of March — the highest number on record and up 6% year-on-year. Average stays in temporary accommodation were lengthening, reaching 238 days for closed cases and 305 days for open cases. The published figures generally highlight ongoing strain on the system and limited move-on options for homeless households. 4.2 Local context Locally turnover in council housing decreased slightly, with 103 fewer properties available for let compared to the previous year. The number of homeless applications remained static at 1,027, but the proportion of lets to homeless households rose. Assessment times continue to be efficient, averaging 16 days in Renfrewshire, compared to 18 days across Scotland, and cases are closed in 19 weeks on average, which is significantly better than the 40 week national average. More than half of homeless households (56.6%) were allocated a council tenancy, above the 45% average for stock-owning authorities. However, there is an increasing trend in both the number of households in temporary accommodation and the length of stay, reflecting ongoing pressure on move- on options. Despite this, satisfaction among those in temporary accommodation has improved, reaching 94.6%.
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PUBLIC 4.3 Managing homeless cases Managing homeless cases effectively is crucial to reducing time spent in temporary accommodation and improving outcomes for households. The number of households presenting as homeless has risen significantly since 2021/22, as shown in Table 1, which highlights the increase in live cases at year end. Table 1 It is a concern that, as forecast in a report to the Policy Board in October 2025, the number of ‘live’ cases increased to 502 by 1 December 2025 which has significantly increased the pressure in the system. Despite this growing demand, Renfrewshire outperforms the national average in key area of case management. Assessments are completed in just 16 days on average, compared to 18 days nationally (Table 2). Table 2
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PUBLIC This efficiency continues through to case closure, where Renfrewshire averages 19 weeks, less than half the national average of 40 weeks (Table 3). Table 3 4.4 Repeat Homelessness In relation to repeat homelessness, despite being below the SHN average for repeat presentations, the service has improved its performance compared to last year, reducing repeat presentations from 6.49% to 4.91%, (Table 4). Table 4
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PUBLIC 4.5 Tenancy Sustainment This is an area which is a focus for improvement this year and performance for the first six months of this financial year shows an increase in tenancy sustainment to 88.8% from the 2024/25 figure of 85.4% in the table below. Table 5 4.6 Temporary Accommodation The number of people staying in temporary accommodation has risen in line with the overall increase in homelessness. Over the past three years, Renfrewshire has seen a 24% increase in the use of temporary accommodation, compared to a national average increase of 14.6% (Table 6). Table 6
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PUBLIC Despite this increase, Renfrewshire performs strongly in relation to the length of time households spend in temporary accommodation. While both local and national averages have risen, Renfrewshire’s average stay of 131 days remains significantly below the national average of 238 days (Table 7). This demonstrates effective case management and a focus on moving households into permanent housing as quickly as possible. However, as with the number of live cases, the number of households staying in temporary accommodation has risen considerably since the Scottish Government statistics were published, with the number of households staying in temporary accommodation at 297 by 1 December 2025. It is anticipated that the average length of stay figure will unavoidably increase for 2025/26. Table 7 Satisfaction levels with temporary accommodation also remain high compared to other local authorities (Table 8). This suggests that, despite rising demand, Renfrewshire continues to provide good-quality temporary housing and maintain positive experiences for those using the service.
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PUBLIC Table 8 5. Summary 5.1 Despite the increase in homelessness, the benchmarking report from SHN indicates that the Council and partners continue to perform relatively well in several key areas: • Days to assess homeless applications; • Weeks to close case; and • Length of time households spend in temporary accommodation. 5.2 Whilst the proportion of lets to homeless households in Renfrewshire increased by 10 percentage points since 2022/23 in response to the increase in homelessness, Renfrewshire is still below the average percentage lets for the 26 local authorities who are members of SHN. As highlighted in recent reports to the Policy Board, this continues to be an area that we are closely monitoring. 5.3 The homelessness pressures and demand for social rented housing are having an impact on outcomes and performance and are likely to continue to do so. 5.4 Several indicators suggest that although there is healthy and positive throughput in the local homelessness system, the pressure within the system is increasing and the landscape is becoming more challenging. This is confirmed by the updated figures for the current financial year which have been provided for both the number of live cases and the number of households staying in temporary accommodation.
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PUBLIC 5.5 Homeless Services and partner services and agencies will continue to have a focus on delivering performance on outcomes which compares well with other local authority areas, as well as ensuring that we continue to develop our understanding of issues such as repeat homelessness and tenancy sustainment for those who were homeless. _________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial – None. 2. HR & Organisational Development – None. 3. Community/Council Planning • Building strong, safe, and resilient communities – Improving and maintaining neighbourhoods and homes. • Working together to improve outcomes – Increasing resident satisfaction with neighbourhoods and communities. 4. Legal – None. 5. Property/Assets – None. 6. Information Technology – None. 7. Equality & Human Rights – The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report because it is for noting only. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety – None. 9. Procurement – None. 10. Risks – None. 11. Privacy Impact – None. 12. Climate Risk – None. 13. Children’s Rights – None.
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PUBLIC 14. Cosla Policy Position – None. __________________________________________________________________ Background Papers Communities and Housing Policy Board, 14 January 2025, Homelessness: Annual Benchmarking Report 2023/24 The foregoing background paper will be retained within the Housing Service for inspection by the public for the prescribed period of four years from the date of the meeting. The contact officer within the service is Tom Irvine, Homeless and Housing Support Services Manager, telephone 0141-487 1930 and e-mail tom.irvine@renfrewshire.gov.uk __________________________________________________________________ Author: Tom Irvine, Homeless & Housing Support Services Manager Email: tom.irvine@renfrewshire.gov.uk