New homeless approach paying dividends

Councillors have praised the positive performance of Perth and Kinross Council’s housing services team which has led to a drop in the number of families registered as homeless.

The interim performance summary report said that a continued focus on homelessness prevention work and the ‘home first’ approach, which aims to reduce the use of temporary accommodation for people presenting as homeless, has seen the number of families presenting as homeless reduce by 52 per cent (57 presentations) between April and August this year.

This compares to 119 for the same period in 2018/19.

Similar success was achieved in preventing homelessness for young single people, with a 24 per cent reduction for the year to date compared to 2018/19 (68 to date compared to 90 in 18/19).

The impact of the council’s work has been to minimise the impacts, stigmas and duration of homelessness for many households.

Work is also underway to implement PKC’s new rapid rehousing transition plan. An additional £203,000 will support the introduction of further homelessness prevention activity.

Research into local homelessness is being carried out to give the council a better understanding of some of the key challenges to eradicating rough sleeping in the area.

Cllr Bob Brawn, the council’s convener of housing and communities, said:

“Our home first approach to tackling homelessness has produced very positive results and this will be further developed through our new rapid rehousing transition plan. I’m delighted to see the impact our new approach has had.

“It has made a real difference to people’s lives and all of our staff involved can be proud of their achievements.”

The Interim Performance Summary report was discussed by the council’s housing and communities committee on Wednesday, October 30.