Referring to the role of homelessness prevention ‘It’s better to have a fence at the top of the cliff than an ambulance at the bottom’ was the message Archie Stoddart gave to the audience of the last session of the 2008 conference.

Following a whistle stop tour of the legislative and cultural changes in homelessness since 1965 Archie gave delegates a flavour of the esteem which the Scottish Homelessness legislation has achieved with European neighbours, saying that at a recent meeting with Basque representatives it was described as “inspirational”.
He reminded delegates ‘it’s only 4 years to go guys’ and suggested that a debate and independent evaluation of the readiness of the sector was essential sooner rather than later and reassured delegates that they were up for the challenge.

John Blackwood emphasised the role that the private sector can play and stressed the role both the registration process and Landlord Accreditation Scheme has in raising the standard of private rented stock. He also sent out a warning that the effects of direct payment of the Local Housing Allowance is likely to be ‘catastrophic’ for some landlords. However, with greater partnership working he was optimistic that the target could be reached.

Support and prevention is a key feature of a successful reduction in homelessness and is the only way that 2012 is going to achieved by North Ayrshire Council. Olga Clayton described strategic planning and key projects like the Home Security project have helped the council to achieve a level 82% of homeless assessments as priority need, with their 2009 interim target being 88%. However, the message she gave was that the target was not was not so straight forward and more demanding targets for RSLs was also needed.

Laura Dolan gave a taste of the main issues surrounding progress in reaching the 2012 target. She reviewed the ongoing commitment to the 2012 target within the parliament, central and local government and the sector. She acknowledged that readiness was patchy, saying that ‘2012 was not necessarily in the bag’. A forthcoming report of the Homelessness Monitoring Group report will set out detailed information about the sector’s capacity to meet the target. A further report, based on the insights of front line staff of the barriers to successful delivery, will also be produced at the same time. More partnership and prevention activity was required in addition to work underway to address supply barriers and revamp social housing policy all of which underpin the 2012 target. She highlighted that consultation on the use of the private sector would be available soon.