This report helps provide insight into some of the challenges facing the establishment of sharing support. The research underpinning it set out to evidence where demand for shared accommodation is highest across Scotland and what is currently being done by local authorities and third sector organisations to support single homeless people under 35 into shared accommodation in the Private Rented Sector (PRS).

Key findings

• At the time of the research, there was only one incidence of an established scheme offering specific support for young people claiming the SAR across the seven case study areas. General PRS access support was being provided by both local authorities and third sector schemes but there is a shortage of assistance aimed solely on helping young people needing to share. The ‘default’ means of helping was to place young people in temporary accommodation to wait for a social tenancy to become available.
• Local authority stakeholders felt the PRS might be a more appropriate means of helping young people instead of long waits in temporary accommodation and there was a will to do more to support them into shared accommodation. Motivation came from the need to address the growing cost of the number of young people housed in temporary accommodation. However, without investment in resources and staff training/support many local authority stakeholders felt the number of challenges they foresaw – how to alleviate any risk to young people, how best to engage landlords and learn more about their PRS – would be difficult to overcome.
• Current spending on under 35s in temporary accommodation for five of the case study areas was £110,497 per week. If 20% of those under 35s were housed in the PRS each authority would make an average weekly saving of £12,124. The cumulative effect of these savings along with associated savings on support costs (an average weekly saving £1943 weekly) would enable local authorities to make the investment needed to mitigate the challenges and risks they foresaw.
• While investment in developing schemes was needed, there were wider, less funding-dependent, changes required. More needs to be done to share best practice and information about the variety of options available to create sharing support. Local authority staff require better training to help procure PRS properties and to ensure that the PRS is offered as a viable alternative to temporary accommodation. Working and engaging with landlords could be improved by linking landlord accreditation with the landlord register thus improving knowledge of the PRS. Calls were also made for the Scottish Government to build on the existing sharing support work being done to promote it more and establish an evidence base premised on best practice and value for money which local authorities could apply to their own circumstances.

Reference

Sanders, B. & Dobie, S. (2015) Sharing in Scotland: Supporting young people who are homeless on the Shared Accommodation Rate. London: Crisis.