Item 11 - WD Rapid Re-Housing Transition Plan and Housing Solutions Strategy Update.
West Dunbartonshire Council · 20 August 2025
Back to Housing & Communities Committee — 20 August 2025 and its agenda
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WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE COUNCIL Report by the Chief Officer, Housing Housing and Communities Committee: 20 August 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Subject: Home at the Heart - West Dunbartonshire’s Rapid Re-Housing Transition Plan update and new approaches to homelessness progress report. 1. Purpose 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide members with an update on “Home at the Heart” WDC’s Rapid Re-housing Transition Plan (RRTP) for the period 2019-25 and new approaches to homelessness, including: - Progress update for Year 6 and Year 1 plans for WDC’s new Housing Solutions Strategy “More than a Roof”. 2. Recommendations 2.1 It is recommended that the Housing and Communities Committee: (i) Note and agree the progress and challenges made in the six years of “Home at the Heart”, which will inform a report to the Scottish Government at the start of October 2025 and note the main objectives for Year 1 of “More than a Roof” in sections 4.27 – 4.43 of this report; (ii) Note that the Council’s housing allocation letting target for homeless households is 59% for 2025/26 as set out in section 4.35 of this report and note the Chief Officer, Housing will keep this target under close review based on current modelling projections; (iii) Note the continued uncertainty around future funding referenced in section 6 of this report; and (iv) Note that Scottish Government funding of £257,000 has been awarded for 2025/26 for the specific delivery of West Dunbartonshire’s Housing Solutions Strategy. 3. Background 3.1 The Council’s approach to tackling homelessness is outlined in the RRTP “Home at the Heart” and reinforced within the new Local Housing Strategy approved by the Housing and Communities Committee in November 2021. This approach builds on the good progress made within West Dunbartonshire by previous strategies, most recently the “More than a Roof” approach which covered the period 2017/2020, whilst also acknowledging the challenges set by the renewed Scottish Government national commitments to tackle homelessness, to end rough sleeping and to transform temporary accommodation. ITEM 11
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3.2 “Home at the Heart” was developed in response to a key recommendation from the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG) that was adopted by the Scottish Government, for Local Authorities to develop and submit a RRTP for the period 2019-2024. The Scottish Government confirmed a one- year extension to allow for its continued delivery for a sixth year due to challenges around implementation. 3.3 It was developed in partnership with key stakeholders, including HSCP and the wider Housing Solutions Partnership, which includes local Registered Social Landlords. It was submitted to the Scottish Government on 31 December 2018 and retrospectively approved by the Housing and Communities Committee on 6 February 2019. 3.4 Regular reports have been provided to the Housing and Communities Committee, initially detailing, and seeking approval for the RRTP and subsequently providing updates in terms of progress being made and approving the use of Scottish Government funding to deliver the key objectives. 4. Main Issues 4.1 The aims of “Home at the Heart” in terms of tackling homelessness are influenced by the Scottish Social Housing Charter and consistent with the Scottish Government’s “Ending Homelessness Together” approach and are structured around the following four strategic objectives: Deliver a whole systems approach to the prevention of homelessness; Enable service users with low or no support needs to access settled housing quickly; Develop interim housing options which enable independent living and tenancy sustainment; and Implement a Housing First model which enables the most excluded service users to secure sustainable housing. “Home at the Heart” Year 6 Progress Objective 1: Deliver a whole systems approach to the prevention of homelessness. 4.2 The Prevention Officer has continued to engage with households at risk of homelessness. This has included managing the pilot prevention fund which in the 5 years has made payments directly to households totalling £29,200 and has helped ensure that 73 existing tenancies were sustained and homelessness prevented. 4.3 The overall number of approaches to WDC’s Housing Options service had increased significantly in 2021/22 linked to the Tenant Hardship Fund but high demand continued in 2022/23. This has continued into 2024/25 as there has been a 13% increase in approaches since 2023/24, highlighting that the request for assistance remains high. 72% of cases have been prevented from becoming homeless.
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4.4 Since the end of emergency legislation banning evictions taking place in both the social and private rented sector, there has been an increase in Section 11 notices, from 20 in 2020/21 to 158 in 2024/25. Of those where contact was made and there was engagement with the household, homelessness was prevented in 86% of cases, up from 83% last year. 4.5 Changes to the allocations policy with the creation of a youth priority prevention has now been fully embedded and has had a positive impact. Since its introduction at the end of 2022, WDC has housed fifty-nine young people through the scheme, with a further thirty are awaiting a subsequent offer. The scheme has been successful in reducing the number of young people presenting themselves as homeless from 265 in 2023/24 to 216 in 2024/25. 4.6 Work has started with RSL partners to assess the benefits and explore options. around creating a Common Housing Register for social landlords within West Dunbartonshire. Objective 2: Enable service users with low or no support needs to access settled housing quickly. 4.7 One of the key objectives of WDC’s RRTP is to ensure that homeless households can access settled accommodation as quickly as possible. A key target is reducing the length of time homeless households with no/low support needs spend in temporary accommodation. 4.8 A RRTP model has been developed which considers the level of new homeless decisions, the backlog of homeless households, projected future demand, the number of lets made to homeless households and projected letting activity. The RRTP model uses this data to determine the number of lets that will be required for homeless households on an annual basis and determines a projected lettings % target. Calculation of homeless lets required and % of expected letting activity required to meet need - split by LA & RSL Year 6 target Year 6 actual Lets required to meet demand 760 697 Split LA 518 554 Split RSL 242 143 % Allocation of lets required LA 69% 63% RSL 69% 46% 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2024/25 Prevent1 approaches 178 240 332 576 455 384 433 Prevent1 closures 177 221 249 378 654 385 461 % homelessness prevented 64% 57% 51% 52% 72% 67% 72% % closed with presentation 24% 26% 27% 31% 18% 25% 19%
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4.9 Despite an improvement from last year, the turnover of available RSL properties was lower than projected, thus impacting available lets. Although WDC exceeded its target for lets to homeless households, it failed to meet its allocation target of 69% due to achieving significantly more overall lets than projected, 947 as opposed to the 750 target and less Youth Prevention Lets, 4% as opposed to the 5% target. 4.10 There are now 278 households in temporary accommodation, including 116 children. 56 households have been waiting longer than a year to be housed and 28 of these households are in temporary accommodation. 4.11 Despite this, the average times for 2024/25 decreased and we achieved the target of 16 weeks. Objective 3: Develop interim housing options which enable independent living and tenancy sustainment. 4.12 There continues to be a range of interim housing options available in West Dunbartonshire for those homeless households with more complex support needs. This includes supported tenancies in the community, as well as residential supported accommodation where this need is identified. 4.13 Residential supported accommodation offers temporary accommodation and on- site support to alleviate homelessness and enable homeless households to make a planned transition to settled accommodation. The key recommendations of the Review of Supported Accommodation continued to be taken forward in Year 6, an additional staff member was successfully recruited to lead on the development and delivery of new residential supported accommodation, the new project plan was approved, the timescales for the recommendations have been embedded and the project board has been established. 4.14 There was a target of forty conversions in Year 6, however only thirty were completed due to issues around delays in gas and electricity safety checks and sign-ups. 4.15 At the end of Year 6 work around WDC’s Joint Mental Health, Addictions, Homeless and Housing Services Protocol began to progress. 4.16 Research was conducted around barriers that LGBTQ+ communities may face in accessing homeless and housing services to help improve future practice. and enable positive housing outcomes for all. Objective 4: Implement a Housing First model which enables the most excluded service users to achieve housing sustainment. 4.17 The available funding in Year 6 of WDC’s RRTP did not allow for the expansion of the Housing First service but did provide funding for 8 Housing First workers, however, due to the current restructure of the homeless service there has been delays in recruitment which has meant that the Housing First service had to operate at a reduced staffing capacity of 5.
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4.18 By the end of 2024/25, 8 new Housing First tenancies had been created, a further 4 clients are awaiting an offer of settled accommodation being made. 4.19 12 tenancies are being sustained where the Housing First support has been “stepped down”, meaning a planned exit from the Housing First Service. 4.20 Whilst WDC’s Housing First approach continues to have a high overall tenancy sustainment rate. Sadly 7 of these tenancies have ended due to the death of tenants. 4.21 A key objective in Year 6 of the RRTP was to assess the impact of the tendered Housing First Service with Blue Triangle Housing Association and due to the positive feedback received the decision has been made to extend the contract for a further 12 months, until February 2026. 4.22 A full review of the Housing First service has been carried out, including stakeholder, staff and service user consultation to help frame the future of the service. Survey responses were positive, especially with regards to service user experiences, however recommendations include further clarity around staff roles, most notably regarding the involvement of Housing First workers at different stages. “More than a Roof” 4.23 More than a Roof is West Dunbartonshire Council’s 6th Homeless Strategy with a strong focus on finding housing solutions for those households in need. This strategy covers the period from 2025 to 2028, which means it is aligned with the current Local Housing Strategy which also runs until 2028. 4.24 This approach aims to build on the achievements of “Home at the Heart”, WDC’s Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan. It has been developed within the backdrop of a Housing Emergency both locally and nationally, where demand is higher than ever, and supply is reducing. 4.25 The strategy was produced in partnership with key stakeholders, which importantly included in-depth consultation with households experiencing homelessness and staff working in the service and takes account of these opinions around how we can end homelessness in West Dunbartonshire. 4.26 Following this process, four key objectives were identified: 1. Homelessness is prevented by providing good quality advice and information to enable informed decisions on personal housing solutions, 2. Where homelessness does occur households are rehoused quickly, 3. Review and ensure there are a wide range of support services available to prevent and end homelessness, and 4. Working with partners to provide interim options for temporary accommodation and providing best quality temporary accommodation where required.
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Year 1 Plan 4.27 In order to achieve these objectives over the three-year period the following actions will be taken in Year 1: Objective 1: Homelessness is prevented by providing good quality advice and information to enable informed decisions on personal housing solutions. 4.28 A variety of measures will continue to be used to prevent homelessness within West Dunbartonshire including the homeless service implementing a service redesign to a housing solutions focus which will review the Council’s delivery of housing options interviews and personal housing solutions plans. 4.29 The £17,633 unspent prevention fund from last year will be used to continue to support households at risk of homelessness in West Dunbartonshire. 4.30 The continued monitoring of the revised allocations policy which creates young people at risk of homelessness as an additional group given a reasonable preference within the policy. 4.31 Following on from the pilot Section 11 programme, there will be a review to determine if extending earlier Section 11 referrals fits with new prevention duties. 4.32 As part of WDC’s work towards a Common Housing Register, a shared housing application form will be rolled out and a working group will be introduced to review the shared from. The creation of shared medical and change of circumstance forms will also be explored alongside RSL partners. Objective 2: Where homelessness does occur, households are rehoused quickly. 4.33 Due to the continued demand and pressures around the provision of temporary accommodation in West Dunbartonshire it has been decided that the target time homeless households with no/low needs spend in temporary accommodation will be maintained at 16 weeks. 4.34 Currently modelling suggests that for 2025/26 for West Dunbartonshire, 92% of all available social tenancies, inclusive of conversions and Housing First will require to be allocated to homeless households to ensure targeted reductions in temporary accommodation and faster access to settled accommodation is achieved. 4.35 While this will not be achieved, after recognising other housing need factors it would not be practical to have 92% allocation of lets to homeless households. Therefore, partners have been asked to agree a 59% lettings target to homeless households. This objective was supported by the Housing Improvement Board in terms of lets made by the Council and a similar commitment was sought from RSL partners via their annual Housing Solutions Contribution Statements.
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Calculation of homeless lets required and % of expected letting activity required to meet need - split by LA & RSL Year 1 Lets required for to meet demand 693 Split LA 531 Split RSL 162 Projected turnover Year 1 Split LA 900 Split RSL 275 % Allocation of lets required Year 1 LA 59% RSL 59% 4.36 As 59% is not enough to fully meet demand and clear the backlog of households in temporary accommodation, this will result in a shortfall of around 389 lets and sixty-four additional units required for temporary accommodation. 4.37 If additional temporary accommodation units are required, this reduces lets available for mainstream offers and would also require additional staff resources to manage the additional units. Objective 3: Review and ensure there are a wide range of support services available to prevent and end homelessness. 4.38 The review of Residential Supported Accommodation will continue to progress in Year 1. The review recommendations will be taken to a future Housing and Communities Committee for approval, monthly meetings with the Project Board will continue and an updated progress report will be presented to a future Housing and Communities Committee. 4.39 To deliver the optimum service model, it is anticipated that a three-year plan will be required to support the implementation of any future proposals. 4.40 WDC’s Joint Mental Health, Addictions, Homeless and Housing Services Protocol will be finalised in Autumn 2025/26 and will be rolled out across the wider Housing Solutions Partnership. 4.41 Follow up work with LGBTQ+ groups will be carried out to further explore barriers and identify solutions to achieving sustainable housing outcomes. Objective 4: Working with partners to provide Interim options for temporary accommodation and providing best quality temporary accommodation where required.
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4.42 Once Human Resources processes are concluded and the restructure of the homeless service has occurred WDC’s Housing First service will be back to full capacity of 8 staff members. Whilst the available funding will ensure the service operates with 8 housing first support workers enabling support to continue to be provided to the 32 active tenancies and the 4 waiting to be housed carried over into Year 1, it does not allow the service to be expanded further to fully meet identified demand. Thus, collaborative funding options for Housing First will be explored with HSCP partners. 4.43 The impact of the additional tendered Housing First Service will continue to be assessed to decide whether to extend beyond 2025/26. Funding update 4.44 In May 2025, the Scottish Government confirmed in its Programme for Government that a further £8 million would be provided to local authorities to support their approaches to homelessness and scale up the Housing First approach nationally for 2025/26. 4.45 The formula still being used to allocate local authorities share of this funding is based on the number of homeless assessments made in a local authority area over a three-year period. There has been some criticism of this approach as it does not consider homelessness prevention work within the assessment. It can therefore act as a disincentive to make the wider system changes advocated within Ending Homelessness. 4.46 The Scottish Government and COSLA had hoped to explore the possibility of joining up the funding stream for preventing and responding to homelessness with the rapid rehousing funding stream and to look at alternative distribution formulas. However, this work has been delayed due to competing priorities. 4.47 The same formula has therefore been used for the funding allocation for 2025/26. This formula has resulted in an allocation for West Dunbartonshire Council of £257,000 to deliver Year 1 of our Housing Solutions Strategy which was announced on 13th May 2025. In addition, the Scottish Government have also confirmed the funding allocation to West Dunbartonshire Council for the provision of homelessness prevention and response services, this is provided within the revenue grant provided to local authorities by the Scottish Government. Housing Solutions Year 1 funding Year 6 underspend £91,663 SG funding for Year 1 £257,000 Year 1 total funding £348,663 4.48 A full review of Year 6 activities has been carried out and the Year 1 Housing Solutions plan has been refreshed to take account of available funding.
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Housing Solutions Year 1 costings Blue Triangle Housing First Project £48,500 Pilot Prevention Fund £17,663 Conversion Programme £93,000 Youth Budget £158,500 Resettlement Support £31,000 Year 1 total cost £348,663 With WDC’s Housing First service now being fully funded internally, this year’s additional SG funding will be used to pilot services around improving housing outcomes for young people and providing resettlement support. Housing Emergency 4.49 The Council declared a housing emergency on 1st May 2024 due to the extreme pressures facing housing and homelessness services within West Dunbartonshire. A national housing emergency was declared by the Scottish Government on 15th May 2024. 4.50 An updated report on the progress of West Dunbartonshire’s Housing Emergency Action Plan is Item 8 on the agenda for the Housing and Communities Committee on the 20th of August 2025. 5. People Implications 5.1 Any additional post required to strengthen the team will be recruited in line with the Council’s existing recruitment policy and will be funded from the Scottish Government funding for the provision of homelessness prevention and response. 6. Financial and Procurement Implications 6.1 The Minister for Housing wrote to West Dunbartonshire on 13th May 2025 advising of the Council’s Housing Solutions funding allocation for 2025/26 of £257,000. This funding will be included in the regular payments of the 2025/26 General Revenue Grant. 6.2 In addition the Scottish Government’s funding allocation to West Dunbartonshire Council for the provision of homelessness prevention and response has been confirmed, this funding will be paid as part of the General Revenue Grant payment, with the first payment in 2025/26 made on 1 April 2025. 6.3 Further Housing Solutions funding beyond 2025/26 is unclear. Committee will be updated at a future meeting once confirmed plans for future years are received.
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6.4 There has been some national discussions looking at reviewing funding to deliver homelessness and housing option services, however, there remains some financial uncertainty in terms of how the Housing First approach can be funded in the longer term. 6.5 The delivery of WDC’s wider Housing Solutions Strategy will be within existing budgets noting the increases in such because of the Scottish Government funding for 2025/26. 6.6 There are no procurement implications in terms of this report. 7. Risk Analysis 7.1 There are financial and regulatory risks associated with not being able to fully deliver our Housing Solutions Strategy, including the Housing First element of the approach. 7.2 The decision to award funding for a further year was based again on a formula which focuses on homelessness assessments (and not the content of homeless strategies), which benefits larger local authorities who receive a higher proportion of homeless assessments and could discourage local authorities from implementing initiatives aimed at preventing homelessness. 7.3 There is no confirmation of Housing Solutions funding beyond this year (2025/26) therefore long-term funding is required to be sourced to continue planned activities. 8. Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) 8.1 There are no negative equalities impacts due to the implementation of WDC’s new Housing Solutions Strategy, however preventing and responding to homelessness has a significant positive impact on individuals and communities. There are potential positive impacts for some groups as noted in the EIA conducted for the Housing Solutions Strategy in February 2025, EIA 1222. 9 Environmental Sustainability 9.1 Our current and future approach to strategic housing asset management will continue to prioritise a ‘zero carbon’ approach to decision making and deliverability and this will be done the aims of the Housing Asset Management Strategy and the Council’s Climate Change Strategy. 10. Consultation 10.1 The Housing Solutions Strategy was developed in collaboration with key partners, including HSCP, local RSLs, third sector organisations, WDTRO (West Dunbartonshire Tenants and Residents Organisation and households experiencing homelessness, via focus groups, surveys, staff meetings and community and stakeholder events.
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11. Strategic Assessment 11.1 Having considered the Council's strategic priorities, this report contributes significantly to all strategic priorities. Peter Barry Chief Officer, Housing Date: 6 August 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Person to Contact: John Kerr – Housing Development and Homelessness Manager, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, telephone: 07793717981, email: john.kerr@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Donna Kirkwood, Senior Housing Development Officer, Housing Development and Homelessness Team, Housing and Employability, email: donna.kirkwood@westdunbarton.gov.uk Appendices: None Background Papers: Ending Homelessness Together – High Level Action Plan; Scottish Government/COSLA https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/ publications/publication/2018/11/ending-homelessness- together-high-level-action-plan/documents/00543359- pdf/00543359-pdf/govscot%3Adocument HARSAG2 recommendations tracker, West Dunbartonshire Council Housing Development and Homelessness Team, July 2025; Housing and Communities Committee Report 21st August 2024 “Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan and new approaches to homeless update”. West Dunbartonshire Council Housing Emergency Action Plan, July 2025 Letter from Shirley-Anne Somerville, MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice on Distribution of Funding for Rapid Rehousing Transition Plans for 2025/26; 13 May 2025; “More than a Roof” West Dunbartonshire Council’s Homelessness Prevention and Temporary Accommodation Strategy 2017-2020.
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West Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Housing Strategy 2022-2027; West Dunbartonshire Council’s Revised Rapid Rehousing Transition Plan including Action Plan and Equalities Impact Assessment, Home at the Heart West Dunbartonshire Council’s Housing Solutions Strategy, Action Plan and Equalities Impact Assessment, Housing Solutions Strategy 27.03.25 Wards Affected: All