Politicians at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh are looking for new ideas on how best to tackle homelessness.
Holyrood’s local government and communities committee wants to know more about why people are living on the streets, and whether the services designed to help people in housing crises are really working.
And Scotland’s MSPs are open to exploring the “Housing First” strategy taking off in the United States and other parts of Europe.
Rather than make homeless people through bureaucratic hurdles in hostels and pass various good behaviour tests to make sure they are “housing ready,” the strategy sees homeless people placed in a house first before support is provided from a distance.
We want to hear views on a wide variety of housing and homelessness issues
“On the committee’s visits to homeless shelters across Scotland, we heard that many still face the misery of homelessness and rough sleeping in our cities and rural areas,” said committee convener, the SNP’s Bob Doris.
“We now want to hear views on a wide variety of housing and homelessness issues across Scotland. Our committee also want to explore best practice internationally when it comes to tackling homelessness.”