Elected Member Briefing - Update on homelessness and housing pressures in Perth and Kinross

About this Briefing Note

Report by: Elaine Ritchie, Strategic Lead, Housing and Communities

Date: 8th May 2025

Subject: Update on homelessness and housing pressures in Perth and Kinross 

Purpose

The purpose of this briefing is to provide an overview of homelessness performance and outcomes in Perth and Kinross for 2024/25, and an update on the availability of affordable housing.

Briefing Information

Homelessness Overview

Despite the ongoing challenges with housing supply, demand and cost of living pressures, the level of homelessness presentations stabilised in 2024-25 after consecutive increases in 2022/23 and 2023/24. There was only a very slight increase of just 5 presentations (0.6%). The table below shows the number of homelessness presentations in the last six years and the percentage changes.

There were 120 homelessness presentations from families, showing a promising decrease from 128 in 2023/24. Similarly, presentations from single, young people (16-25) also saw a reduction from 193 in 2023/24 to 179 in 2024/25.

Key Homelessness Indicators

The extent of the backlog of homeless households waiting for an offer of permanent housing, and whether this is increasing or reducing, is a strong indicator of the effectiveness of our response to homelessness. Maintaining a low backlog of cases is important in terms of being able to fairly deliver rapid or direct rehousing into settled accommodation for some households.

Live homelessness cases are people/households where we have accepted a homelessness duty, and the person/household is waiting to be permanently rehoused. A sharp increase in 2022/23 was driven by a simultaneous rise in demand and a reduction in housing supply, both in terms of new provision and the turnover of existing stock.

However, thanks to a focused effort, the number of live cases stabilised in 2023/24 and even saw a slight reduction in 2024/25, despite the ongoing national 'housing emergency'. This demonstrated the effectiveness of our efforts to manage and improve the situation for people in housing need. 

Homeless case duration is the average length of time between a household receiving their homelessness decision and them being rehoused into permanent accommodation. Perth & Kinross Council has consistently achieved the shortest average case duration in Scotland. In 2023/24, our average case duration was 88 days, significantly better than the national average of 278 days.

Additionally, the average length of time spent in temporary accommodation has remained consistently around 70 days during the period shown in the chart, compared to the most recent national average of 226 days in 2023/24. This highlights our commitment to providing efficient and effective support to those in need.

Housing pressures update

Whilst the stabilisation of presentation levels, and continuing strong performance on key indicators is positive, we are very much still experiencing a range of pressures and challenges including:

• High levels of demand for affordable and social housing with an increase in the proportion of households reliant on social-rented housing as their only realistic housing option.
• Insufficient supply of affordable/social-rented housing to meet demand.
• A significantly higher proportion of the households that present as homeless requiring temporary accommodation.
• Temporary accommodation regularly at capacity with short-term overspill into B&B.
• Limited availability and higher rents in the private-rented sector.
• Economic pressures driving affordability issues and a risk of homelessness for some households.
• Reduced opportunity for mobility across housing tenures, resulting in reduced turnover of existing social housing.
• Migration into Perth and Kinross associated with the suspension of Local Connection, the resettlement of refugees and an increasing number of asylum seekers receiving positive decisions on their claim and presenting as homeless in Perth and Kinross.
• The release of prisoners, including early release provisions and an ambition to achieve greater fidelity with SHORE principles.

Given these pressures, it is crucial that we intensify our collective efforts across services and with other key stakeholders. By working together, we can ensure that we not only continue to meet our statutory duties around homelessness but also continue to provide effective and timely support to those in housing need.