Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 February 2017
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on promoting a policy among local authorities of additional housing points for victims of domestic abuse.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 requires local authorities to give reasonable preference, or priority, to applicants for social housing who are living under unsatisfactory housing conditions, or who are homeless or threatened with homelessness. The Scottish Government expects victims of domestic abuse to be included in these categories. In practice guidance on social housing allocations that it has issued to social landlords, the Scottish Government has advised that social landlords:
“need to develop an approach to deal sensitively with victims of abuse and to award them with priority to make sure that they can be re-housed quickly to remove themselves from the abuse. This can include dealing with harassment and abuse issues under the homeless legislation, which gives those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness reasonable preference in housing allocations.”
The guidance is available online at:
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/social-housing-allocations-a-practice-guide/