STORIES about how badly the disadvantaged are treated today are legion. Even so, the experiences recounted by people stuck in “temporary” B&B accommodation for lengthy periods can still shock: no cooking facilities; curfews; no visitors allowed; even “blood on the walls”.
Aspects of this experience sound more like prison than providing help. That, of course, was never the intention. But needs must, desperation, and a punitive welfare system have conspired to create intolerable conditions for many people who find themselves homeless.
Campaigners have called on the Scottish Government to change the law this parliamentary year so that no homeless person is left in unsuitable temporary accommodation for more than a week. Already, the Government has acknowledged the desirability of this in principle, though it hasn’t yet moved legally to put it into practice.
Yesterday, Housing Minister Kevin Stewart spoke only of getting people into permanent accommodation “as soon as possible”, though he rightly mentioned the £6.5 million investment earlier this month in Housing First, the programme that gets people into permanent accommodation then tries to deal with their complex needs (rather than the other way around).
If it adopts the seven-day principle – already in place for pregnant women and families – in law, well and good. But the real problem lies in providing longer-term support. At a time of financial pressures, this won’t be easy. But the millions saved by cutting out expensive B&B landlords should help. Many landlords doubtless are decent, but others clearly are not, and there needs to be greater vigilance against the latter.
The Scottish Government is pledged to creating a more humane society, and we don’t doubt its sincerity. As homelessness campaigners Crisis say, long stays in unsuitable temporary accommodation are not only inhumane but demoralising and detrimental to health. And a society that has homeless people living in such conditions has some way to go before it can be described as fully humane.
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