 The next item of business is a debate on motion 3018 in the name of Shona Robison on prevention of homelessness duties, and I invite members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request to speak buttons or press R in the chat function. I call on Shona Robison to speak to and move the motion up to 10 minutes, cabinet secretary. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Can I start by moving the motion in my name? I think this Parliament should be proud of the progressive housing rights that it's introduced for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness, and that has been a concerted effort across this chamber. Access to permanent accommodation and other rights already enshrined in Scottish law by this Parliament are some of the strongest in the world. The 2021 independent homelessness monitor, commissioned by Crisis, found that rates of the most severe forms of homelessness are substantially lower in Scotland than in England and Wales, but to reach our ambition of ensuring that everyone has a safe and warm place to call home, we want to end rough sleeping and transform temporary accommodation, so there is more to be done. Yesterday, we published our latest homelessness statistics, and whilst in 24 local authority areas the use of temporary accommodation has gone down since September 2020, they show that overall there are far too many households in temporary accommodation, which is not good enough. We must learn from the areas that are making progress and share that good practice. We will continue to work with our partners to use all the powers that we have and to take the action that is needed to reduce time-spent in temporary accommodation, to improve the quality of accommodation that is available and to tackle rough sleeping. We must do more to prevent people from entering the homelessness system in the first place. Willie Rennie I am puzzled as to why the minister can claim to have world-leading legislation on homelessness when we have tens of thousands of people in this country who do not have a home. Willie Rennie, our world-leading homelessness legislation has been recognised by many organisations, but what matters is making sure that the legislation is used, that the policy is implemented and that we get to a position where we can eradicate homelessness entirely. Of course, that is going to take time, and today's debate is the next stage of that process. Back to what I was saying. In 2018, the experts on our homelessness and rough sleeping action group presented us with solutions, and we adopted their recommendations in full. Our ending homelessness together action plan, based on those recommendations, was refreshed in 2020-21. That plan has been universally welcomed by stakeholders and includes a shift towards rapid rehousing, a reduction in the use of temporary accommodation and new homelessness prevention duties. It is the right plan. Those are mutually reinforcing activities, making progress in homelessness prevention, and it improves our chances of progress in the others. Our plans are backed by investment of £100 million from 2018-19 to 20-25-26. It is now time to take the next steps on the journey towards ending homelessness through our commitment to introducing new legal duties to prevent homelessness. For taking this intervention, concerns have been expressed with regard to the proposal to remove the right to permanent accommodation and replace that with stable accommodation. All of us would be concerned if that was the dilution of Scotland's housing statutory rights, so could the cabinet secretary confirm that that will not take place and she will be making sure that those hard-won housing rights are protected? Obviously, the consultation runs to the end of March and we want to make sure that we get that right, but we want to prevent more homelessness at an earlier stage so that people do not have to face the trauma and disruption to lives that homelessness brings. Those proposals will strengthen the range of homelessness rights and do not change any existing rights to housing. The proposal for suitable and stable housing is about widening the range of housing options available to those at risk of homelessness. I am happy to write to Miles Briggs with more detail, but of course, as I said, the consultation is open and that is why we have a consultation in order to make sure that we get that right. The prevention review group that we established in late 2019 provided a thoughtful set of recommendations last year. The full package of recommendations have informed the proposals in the joint Scottish Government and COSLA consultation published in December. Strengthening existing powers and changing the way that we work to prevent homelessness before it occurs is key to addressing those challenges in the future and will make us a leader in the UK in homelessness prevention duties. The rights to permanent accommodation for those who are homeless in Scotland provide the strong foundation on which we can build. Our commitment is not to change those established rights but to provide legislative change that helps to create a society where fewer people become homeless in the first place. We propose introducing new duties on public bodies to ask and act to prevent homelessness so that prevention of homelessness is no longer the sole responsibility of local authority housing departments. We know, for example, that there is often increased engagement with health services before someone becomes homeless. We must get better at identifying those crisis points to ensure that every single risk of homelessness that can be prevented is prevented. That reflects the move to a no-wrong-door approach so that the risk of homelessness is acted on regardless of the service's first approach. There are also new duties proposed for landlords, including in relation to domestic abuse, which continues to be the main reason for homelessness among women. The proposals do not stop there. They also aim to make changes to existing homelessness legislation to ensure that local authority housing departments are able to act sooner, up to six months before homelessness may occur. Jeremy Balfour, you are talking about the key role that local councils will play. How do they do that when their budgets have been cut yet again this year? The local authority budgets have been set out in the draft budget with the addition of £120 million. If Jeremy Balfour thinks that more money needs to be allocated to local authorities, I am sure that his party can come forward and tell us where that should come from. We look forward to hearing those constructive proposals. We know that finding and keeping accommodation after a period spent in an institution can be difficult. We are proposing that action is taken much earlier so that people are not faced with homelessness when they leave hospital or prison. This is bold new territory for homelessness legislation in Scotland, and it will be the right thing to do for individuals, for families and for communities to prevent the trauma and disruption to lives due to homelessness. Our proposals are informed by three principles, that there should be a shared public responsibility to prevent homelessness, that there should be earlier intervention across the whole system to prevent homelessness and that we must allow greater choice and control for those at risk of homelessness. The last point about choice was emphasised by people with lived experience of homelessness who helped to inform those proposals and will continue that vital engagement with those who have experienced homelessness. Those proposals aim to drive a whole systems change. We will need both legislation and other policy changes to meet our ambitions. We have already seen good examples of partnership working to prevent homelessness through the adoption of a more person-centred housing options approach to prevention in recent years and more recently through joint working between homelessness and other services in response to the pandemic. We know that an array of important prevention activity already has and continues to be implemented through the hard work of local authorities, landlords and other organisations. The consultation proposals seek to improve practice around joint working on prevention to ensure consistency of delivery while recognising local circumstances and decision making. Effective prevention means helping people at risk of homelessness before they reach crisis point. It also means considering people's circumstances in the widest sense, including their mental wellbeing, physical health and other needs. The prevention duties proposed are far reaching and include proposals to address the issues faced by those experiencing more complex needs, including those with addiction. That includes new approaches to case co-ordination for those with more complex needs experiencing homelessness and an increased role for health in the provision of supported accommodation. Improving outcomes for those with the most complex needs will remain central to our drive to end homelessness. Housing first is an important part of our rapid rehousing approach, offering settled accommodation and wraparound support to people with multiple and complex needs. It was good to see in the homelessness statistics the rise in people getting settled accommodation. Our housing first pathfinder programme, the largest of its kind in the UK, has created over 540 tenancies since 2019, and 84 per cent of those have been sustained. Understandably, much of our focus in recent years has been on addressing rough sleeping, the most extreme form of homelessness, and we have concentrated on reducing the use of and time spent in temporary accommodation through the adoption of a rapid rehousing approach. Of course, that was thrown into sharper focus by the pandemic, and having a robust homelessness strategy meant that we were able to respond quickly to put measures in place to protect people at risk. All 32 councils have been implementing their rapid rehousing transition plans for the last three years, and we have recently committed an extra £16 million of funding to councils over the next two years, bringing the total investment in rapid rehousing and housing first to £53.5 million. The ending homelessness together action plan and the proposed homelessness prevention duties are part of the wider picture as outlined in housing to 2040. We are consulting to the end of March finally to conclude that those views will inform our final proposals and our intention is to bring forward legislative requirements on the prevention of homelessness in the housing bill, which will also cover proposals for our new deal for tenants. I look forward to hearing what members have to say about those proposals. I now call on Miles Briggs to speak to and move amendment 3018.2 up to seven minutes. I thank the organisations and charities who have provided helpful briefings ahead of today's debate, including Shell to Scotland and Crisis. Both charities have been incredibly helpful in briefing me on homelessness prevention and highlighting what needs to be done to end homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland. I would like to pay tribute to them and all those who are working across Scotland in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping. All parties in Scotland are committed to ending homelessness and rough sleeping by the end of this Parliament. Disappointingly, there has been limited progress in reaching this goal, especially here in the capital, with concerning figures published today. If we are serious about ending homelessness, we need to see people in sustainable accommodation now, not good intentions for progress to be made in the future. No one doubts that ending homelessness is not a straightforward task, but ultimately we need to have enough homes for everyone in Scotland. Having a suitable accommodation that meets the needs of families and people living in them is vital to ensure that accommodation becomes a stable home. Making sure that local authorities are keeping in mind people when they are planning homes and communities and making decisions on locations and localities of services available is also very important. As well as getting people who are currently homeless re-homed, preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place is hugely important. That is why I welcome the publication of the joint Scottish Government and COSLA consultation on the prevention of homelessness duties and the work that the prevention review group has undertaken to date. The plans outlined to strengthen the rights of people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness in Scotland can present a welcome step forward. The development of a preventative system is something that I have been a long supporter of and I welcome the package of measures outlined in the consultation, including specifically the introduction of new legal duties on public bodies and landlords to ask and act on any risk of homelessness. The major flaw in the current system is that people must register as homeless before they are given any housing support or access to services. The current model prevents people from presenting or asking for help at an early stage and, until often at a crisis point, is completely counterintuitive to what all of us are trying to achieve. If we want to prevent people from becoming homeless, we must give them the necessary support to stay in their accommodation, as the cabinet secretary has mentioned for at least six months ahead of anyone potentially becoming homeless. Local authorities are still not required to provide housing support before someone becomes homeless. As I have said, that must change if we are going to be more effective in preventing homelessness in all our communities. Policies such as rapid rehousing are very welcome, but keeping someone in their home is often more important, especially when children are involved. Legislation takes time to put in place and even longer often to implement on the ground in council areas. That is why I hope that the prevention homelessness duties will be given the right priority and resources that they require. That will require proper funding. For example, hearing Edinburgh, we see the pressures on local budgets, especially considering the additional challenges that the capital faces in preventing homelessness. I welcome the conversations that I have had with the cabinet secretary about the issue and welcome the commitment that she has given to take forward cross-party talks with regard to Edinburgh's situation. To remind Miles Briggs that, of course, we have doubled our ending homelessness together fund from £50 million to £100 million, but we recognise that some local authorities have particular issues, particularly with the issue of refugees and asylum seekers. I am happy to continue those discussions about local homes. I look forward to those. During the pandemic, we saw significant reductions in the levels of homelessness across Scotland and here in the capital. That public health emergency response is one that I hope that legislation can continue to see public bodies focus their resources and respond in a similar way going forward. A multi-sector response to the pandemic facilitated much of that welcome work, and I hope that we will promote that and expect that. As I said earlier, ending homelessness is not a straightforward task. Having enough homes for everyone is essential, but it is not enough in itself. When someone becomes homeless, there is often an obstacle in their life, which is often found how they have ended up homeless. It has been hard to overcome that. That can range from experiences such as trauma, addiction, substance misuse, mental health problems or relationship breakdown. Models such as Housing First and More Assisted Living can and should be a part of that template for rehousing and supporting people to overcome their personal challenges. That is why Scottish Conservatives have called on the acceleration of the roll-out of Housing First across all of Scotland's local authorities. The cuts that councils face from ministers in the coming budget are a major concern, and I hope that leaders across local authorities will not look towards any savings that they will potentially look to make around homelessness services and the third sector organisations that support people. Another critically important issue is access to health services and social care. The homelessness death rate in Scotland is currently double that of England and Wales with an estimated 256 deaths of people experiencing homelessness in Scotland in 2020. People who are homeless are three to six times more likely to die prematurely. That is unacceptable and must be addressed, and we must all work to address that in this Parliament. Research by the Health and Social Care Alliance suggests that people experiencing homelessness continue to face stigma and additional barriers to accessing health and addiction services today. That is why I also believe that we need to see a review of access to homeless health and social care services and why I am asking the Parliament to support that in my motion this evening as well. Ending homelessness and rough sleeping in Scotland at the earliest opportunity and by the end of this Parliament is an admirable goal, but all of us need to work to make sure that the action that we want to see becomes a reality. I will close with that and move the amendment in my name. I now call on Mark Griffin to speak to and move amendment 3018.1, up to five minutes, please. Thank you. I draw members' attention to my register of interest as an owner of our rental property in North Lanarkshire. We welcome this debate and are pleased to see that consultation under way. We support measures to intervene at an earlier stage and encourage services to work together to respond to people's needs, ensuring that fewer people and families face having to rebuild their lives. Yesterday's latest homelessness statistics for the six months to September demonstrate that the nation's continuing homelessness crisis is severe and persistent. Each one is a household of real people, whole families, children, people with mental health or other problems who simply want to have a right to safe, secure, affordable housing, but instead are going without. That one in 12 people in Scotland, as our amendment says, has been forced to experience the trauma of homelessness, shows that the opportunity to go much further in terms of ending homelessness and prevent it in the first place cannot be missed. We pledged in May that there should be a collective responsibility across public services to prevent homelessness, so we will support legislation that delivers the duty on public services when it comes before Parliament. Similarly to the issue that you highlighted by Miles Briggs, I have drawn to my attention the proposal that will remove the right to permanent accommodation and replace it with stable accommodation. I have asked the cabinet secretary to reflect and confirm that there will be no regression of hard-worn housing that homelessness rights in forthcoming legislation and ask the Government and Parliament to reaffirm existing expectations that homelessness ends only in a secure permanent setting. Just to reiterate what I said to Miles Briggs, those proposals will strengthen the range of homelessness rights and do not change any existing rights to housing. It is about strengthening, not weakening. Mark Griffin. It is good to have that reassurance. I am sure that Shelter will be assured by that too, and we will look forward to debating the detail of the proposed legislation as it comes forward. Crisis, on its briefing, points out that we need to be diligent with the legislation and ensure that it is right-spaced and ensure that prevention is not perceived as gatekeeping by clarifying the place of homelessness prevention in the current system. It offers the detail of what being person-centred as the motion called for would mean to ask people about their situation, their housing needs and what outcomes they want so that they are then able to agree a personalised housing plan about what will happen next. Although the Government is unsure of the benefits providing effective rights to review and challenge decisions, it would also aid that desire for the system to be person-centred. We also believe that the rhetoric around preventing homelessness must be matched by the provision of resources to local authorities, with councils now forced to consider a further £250 million cuts. It would be completely remiss of us not to ignore the impact on ending homelessness. When housing policy funding is part of the Scottish Government's general revenue grant to local authorities and the Government has cut councils' budgets by almost £1 billion since 2013-14, preventing homelessness and making sure that rapid rehousing transition plans are a success becomes more difficult in that context. We know that prevention will undoubtedly save money in the long run, but we cannot afford to starve the homelessness services of the funds that they desperately need to do that prevention work. The crisis homelessness monitor found that the primary barrier seemed to risk inhibiting future progress on the ending homelessness together action plan's vision relates to resources and sites stakeholders who were in general positive about RRTPs, that they are part of our radical transformative agenda, but that there was a common view that RRTPs were under resource. A report from the Salvation Army found that the overall funding for homelessness and housing support services fell 18 per cent from 2013-14 to 2019-20. They ask if there is the necessary investment to achieve the transformational change that we want to see. The significant differences that the Salvation Army also found between the amount requested and received in transitional plans is substantial. Almost all local authorities received less than they requested. One local authority received 2.5 per cent of what it requested. If we are truly to end homelessness and prevent it in the future, we need to make sure that public services are funded to deliver on their new duties, and I move them in my name. Every 19 minutes a household becomes homeless. By the time this debate ends, another four households could be homeless. Last year, 27,000 were classed as homeless, and 13,000 households are stuck in temporary accommodation, including, shamefully, 7,500 children. That is despite, over the last 15 years in power, the SNP repeatedly promised action on homelessness. In 2007, it promised to tackle it. In 2012, it passed legislation to end homelessness within months. Deputy First Minister at the time, Nicola Sturgeon, said that it was Europe's most progressive homelessness legislation. It would have been progressive if it had ended homelessness, but it did not. However, it persisted in calling it an historic homelessness commitment, then a world-leading homelessness target. However, homelessness continued at embarrassingly high levels. In 2018, it became an action plan. In 2019, it was ending it together. In 2020, it ended ghettoisation. In 2021, it became a continuing national priority. However, as always, the case with this Government, the words are grander than the action. Members will forgive me for being a little bit skeptical on the latest commitment. The new prevention of homelessness duties. Apparently, the plans are ambitious and include new legal duties and a human right of an adequate home for all. Of course, everyone is going to support the bulk of those proposals. Who wouldn't, but it's action that actually counts. With regard to Shelter's concerns, I am puzzled as to why, if there's no difference between permanent and stable, why the words just can't be changed back to permanent. That would assure Shelter that there is no dilution of Scotland's statutory rights. If there's really no difference, let's just stick with the wording that we're used to. It is right to pursue early intervention and a person-centred approach, but for those thousands of people who are classed as homeless or living in temporary accommodation, to be frank, they're all just words. What counts is action. The work that was done at the outside of the pandemic showed what could have been done if we set our mind to it. We got lots and lots of people off the streets. It was immediate action. The money was found. The difference was made. However, the reality is that, for years before that, funds were cut. In fact, 18 per cent, according to the Salvation Army, was cut. This year's council budgets. Jeremy Balfour is absolutely right. There is £120 million, supposedly extra, but, in reality, it's hundreds of millions of pounds of cuts. However, most embarrassingly, the secretary doesn't seem to be bothered to make the case to the finance secretary to increase that funding. She's asking other people to do her job for her. We've heard about the 256 people who died while experiencing homelessness during 2020, one of the highest in Western Europe. An increase of 40 deaths compared with the previous year shows that it has failed policies on drugs, mental health and housing that have resulted in long waits and inadequate services. Whether it is living on the streets, sofa surfing or shuttling between temporary accommodation, those situations take a huge toll on people's mental health and physical health. It also exerts a huge toll on children's education and development. It stops people getting on in life. I live in hope that this will be a change, and we will end homelessness in Scotland. I live in hope, because we need and we need desperate action. I refer members to my register of interests that I show. I'm still a serving councillor in Eastershire. It's also important from the outset to advise the chamber that I was a member of the prevention review group convened by crisis on behalf of the Scottish Government to explore homelessness prevention duties, and I was also co-signatory to the ending homelessness together joint action plan, and I've also been homeless twice myself. I worked for many years in homelessness services, supporting individuals to access, navigate and come outside the other end of what was often referred to as the sausage factory. I realised very early on that services were not talking to each other. Asylode approaches had built huge walls, meaning that individuals were often being failed at every turn. Back in 2002, I tried in vain to argue that adverse childhood experiences trauma, abuse, addiction, mental health issues, experiences of being in care, underlying and crushing poverty were all drivers for the high levels of homelessness we were seeing. That was exacerbated by an ever-increasing drop in the numbers of socially-rented houses and the severness of the priority need category. Some days, it felt like I was going into battle. Another day, another 22-year-old man self-medicating with street drugs, care experience, multiple ACEs, mental health issues, and I would be advised to go and take a set of keys from the low-demand pile of long-term shuttered void properties, as this was the best he could hope for. I knew as I tried to pick the least-worst option that this would be yet another tendency that, no matter how hard he or I tried, would not be sustained. I heralded the abolition of priority need as the direction of travel meant that Scotland, despite what Mr Willie Rennie may say, does have among the world's strongest homelessness legislation in terms of giving individuals great legal protections when imminently facing homelessness, but I knew that we needed to increase our housing stock and we needed to do much more work to prevent homelessness from happening in the first place. The housing options approach adopted at that same time meant that councils were already looking at ways to prevent homelessness, supporting individuals and families early on, but we were accused in councils of gate keeping, accused of preventing individuals from accessing their rights as no homeless presentation was taken, rather than seeing that as the preventative work that it actually was and what we desperately needed. Take women fleeing from domestic abuse as an example, they should not be required into the homelessness system and managed moves or support to remain in the homes safely are the ideal solutions. The ending homelessness together joint action plan is clear. We need to work upstream to stop people entering the homelessness system in the first place, and the proposals being consulted on do this by requiring public bodies to ask them to act regarding a person's homelessness situation. A big part of that needs to be around the sense of real choice and control. I knew that housing someone in an area that they didn't know far from the supports that they had would increase the likelihood that the tendency would not be sustained long term. Therefore, I am going to focus the last part of my speech on maximal housing options that are recommended by the PRD. Offering a range of housing options to those at risk of experiencing homelessness gives people choice control and flexibility over their housing journey, giving them the same experience as other members of the community. However, with the additional protections of preventing future risk of homelessness by ensuring that the chosen option is a suitable and settled one, even if it is in the private rented sector or more unusually by Scottish norms such as shared housing, the change to the law being proposed would not necessarily mean that there would be fewer allocations to social housing to homeless households, but rather that a household should not be required to take a journey through the homelessness system with potentially long stays and temporary accommodation as the primary route to accessing social housing. Despite the sterling efforts of the Scottish Government local authorities and RSLs with regard to the ambitious affordable housing supply programme, there are undeniable pressures on the finite stock of social housing. What is being proposed by the PRD is the system whereby applicants who prefer a different kind of housing option are allowed that possibility, which could in theory free up social housing stock. Reducing numbers going through the system also frees up social housing, which is currently being used for temporary accommodation and allows it to be used for more settled housing. Sadly, I supported and cajoled people into permanent houses as I believed that it was their best and only option, and I did not listen to them. They knew that a private let near their mums or a flat share with their friends should do their best. We must afford people a choice. Access to affordable, safe and stable housing must be a central part of any strategy to end homelessness. That is why the Scottish Conservatives believe that housing first should be accelerated and rolled out across all local authorities. However, homelessness is not just about the availability of housing. Its causes, as the CSJ argues, are a complex mix of personal and structural factors. Just as barriers to affordable housing and stable employment to drivers of homelessness so too are adverse childhood experiences, family breakdown, mental health and addiction. We know, for example, from the most recent homelessness figures that household disputes, both violent and non-violent, accounted for more than a third of homelessness applications. Meanwhile, the prevention review group report highlights that almost a fifth of homeless applications have had drug or alcohol-related issues. That is why prevention and early intervention are so important and why organisations such as Shelter Scotland and Crisis emphasise that homelessness prevention needs to become a priority focus for policymakers. I note that the UK and Welsh Governments have already put prevention duties in place, which led to a 46 per cent drop in homelessness. A 59 per cent decrease over the first two years in Wales. Research from Crisis demonstrates that, during the same period, Scotland experienced a rise in the rate of homeless applications. It is clear, as Dr Beth Watts told the Social Justice and Social Security Committee in November last year, that the needs of those who are particularly susceptible to homelessness are much broader than the remit of local authority housing and homelessness departments. A whole system and person-centred approach is therefore sensible, but, to be effective, it must be sufficiently resourced. Health and social care services, children's services, police and prisons are already operating at capacity. For those proposed legislative changes to have the necessary impact, those charged with implementing them on the ground must be supported. I agree with the emphasis on a shared public responsibility to prevent homelessness, but I very sincerely hope that this is not an abdication of the SNP Green Government's responsibility on this issue. Take, for example, Dundee in my region. A city, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government knows very well. A 16-month investigation into mental healthcare in NHS Tayside heavily criticised poor service, treatment and patient care in outcomes. Tragically, figures released in December show that the number of suspected drug deaths in Tayside remains at 2020 levels. Last year, while Scotland experienced a 9 per cent decrease in homeless applications, Dundee City Council recorded a 9 per cent increase, while the housing first project has been cut to the bone. Presiding Officer, Dundee is grappling with a mental health crisis, a drugs crisis and a homelessness crisis, and the council is about to have a funding crisis. It is all very well putting statutory duties in place, but effective service delivery is key to addressing many of the problems that lead to homelessness. I really do hope that the SNP does not lose sight of that. Housing is important, good quality affordable homes as well as being good for health support valuable local jobs. They are a good example of creating a wellbeing economy. We all agree that the best way to end homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Scotland already has a strong framework of housing rights for those who are recognised as homeless or who are threatened with homelessness. Under Scott's law, a person should be treated as homeless, even if they have accommodation that would not be reasonable for them to continue to stay in. If someone is legally homeless, they are entitled to stay in temporary accommodation while the local authority checks eligibility for a permanent home. Local authorities have a pre-existing legal duty to help people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless. That legal duty includes providing information and advice on homelessness and the prevention of homelessness and offering temporary or permanent accommodation. The Housing Scotland Act 2001 established the right to review homelessness decisions and introduced the duty on registered social landlords to assist local authorities in rehousing homeless people. Anyone finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own must be entitled to settled accommodation in a local authority, housing association Tennessee or a private rental and not bed and breakfast or hotels for more than seven days. The new proposals under the prevention of homelessness duties build on the strong housing rights that already exist in Scotland for people who become homeless. Homelessness is of course often a traumatic and unsettling experience that can have a profound impact on the lives of those involved, including children. It is right that early action should be a shared public responsibility, giving people facing homelessness more choice and control over where they live. That lack of choice can compound distress already being felt by the person experiencing homelessness. I strongly agree that those facing homelessness should have an appropriate degree of choice in where they live and access to the same accommodation options as other members of the public. A point made very well by my colleague Elena Whitham, expanding on the benefits of getting that right the first time. When talking about choice, it is only fair to acknowledge that in my constituency demand is far outweighing availability of social housing. There are thousands of people, families on waiting lists, who find their choices severely limited and the situation that they find themselves in is limiting. As we are discussing housing, I will also take the opportunity again to mention the importance of rent affordability. Year on year increases when wages are not going up puts additional pressure on families at a time when household budgets are already stretched. Rent is the single largest cost for so many families. Getting the affordability bit of affordable housing right is crucial and can make a real difference to preventing poverty and improving people's lives. The investment that the Scottish Government is making in both preventing homelessness and in building affordable homes is very welcome. By building more affordable homes we provide those warm, safe places for people to live. Intervening at an earlier stage and encouraging services to work together to respond to people's needs, we can ensure that fewer people and families are faced with having to rebuild their lives affected by homelessness. I refer people to my register of interests where I have registered a property for rent. Tackling the homeless crisis, a crisis that has been severe and persistent, must be an absolute priority of this Parliament. Homelessness is one of the biggest challenges that our countries face today and we must tackle it with purpose to protect those who are at risk of experiencing homelessness in the future. To give context to the seriousness of the situation that we face, I note Shell to Scotland reports highlighting that between April 2020 and March 2021 a household in Scotland became homeless every 19 minutes, as has been mentioned in the debates before. Indeed, in that same time frame, 11,804 children were in the households assessed as homeless and today more and more people are finding themselves with nowhere to stay as numbers rise again. Those figures are devastating and we must make policy interventions to address them, yet they cannot just be treated as numbers on a sheet. They represent a traumatic experience for individuals and families that have left them without a permanent home and they must act as a prompt for us MSPs across the chamber to seriously consider the issue of homelessness and what we can do to address it. That around one in 12 Scots have experienced homelessness is disgraceful and is the result of a lack of serious action over many years. However, not acting is no longer an option so now we have absolutely no choice but to be radical in a response with transformative policies to eradicate homelessness and policies linked to early intervention and prevention play a significant role in that. Indeed, as Scottish Labour fully supports early prevention methods to tackle homelessness, it welcomes that consultation as an initial step, albeit with questions over the delivery of its commitments and how they will be financed. Transformative change is long overdue. We have known for long enough now that homelessness is preventable, that cases in our recent history could have been avoided and that more families could have had better lives and more children greater opportunities. It is for those reasons among so many more that we have to get this right. The consultation allows us to go further, to be bolder and to make the changes that we need to see. It is absolutely critical that the financial decision making of the Scottish Government does not put the implementation of any of the prevention of homelessness objectives set out at risk. However, Presiding Officer, it is at this stage where I must raise concerns. I hope that I can be forgiven for having little confidence in this Government's ability to take appropriate preventative measures to reduce and eventually eradicate homelessness. Scotland's councils have seen their budgets stretched to the very limits by this SNP Government cut after cut year after year. The SNP has shown total disregard for local authorities who are desperate for investment to deliver more council housing and prevent homelessness. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It was in regard to the local authorities. Would the member agree with me that, if local authorities could get their voids properties up to scratch, it might help the situation all around? I hope that this Government can make huge commitments to local authorities, because it needs it so desperately. There is a clear difference between what the SNP promised to deliver and what it actually delivered. The Scottish Government must commit to ensuring that adequate and appropriate funding will be offered to our councils. That cannot be more empty words from the SNP. The Government has to back up its words with action, and we must hold them to account in doing so. Where there is the political will to address issues here in Scotland, steps can be taken to address them. However, investment is needed, political will is needed and support and resources are needed all from the Government. It must support the local authorities. The Scottish Government must match its words with action. People need to expect and desire better the Scottish Government's act now to deliver. I call Paul MacLennan to be followed by Arian Burgess. I refer members to my register of interests. I am a seven councillor on peaceful done council. Preventing homelessness is everyone's business. That was the headline in the briefing that we received from crisis in preparation for the debate today. It is a programme for government that the Scottish Government committed to strengthen existing homelessness prevention legislation and introduce new duties on public bodies to ask people about their housing situation and take action of needing to support the development of the culture of fairly intervention. Obviously, I welcome the publication of the consultation on the prevention of homelessness duties. They are ambitious plans to strengthen the rights of people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness in Scotland. We all have the responsibility to prevent the homelessness. It is right that the consultation introduces the introduction of the new legal duties on public bodies. I will touch on that later on and how important that is. The Lord is prioritising ill intervention and maximising the house and options that are available to people. The approach is person-centred and trauma-informed. In my 15 years as a councillor, I have seen many heartbreaking cases with people being evicted, young families, people who fell ill and people who, through relationship breakdowns, got into trouble financially. Why do we need legislation? We have heard the figures already, one in 12 people have experienced homelessness, one in 12. That is far too many. It is a very traumatic experience that we heard from Melina, but I am as well who has had experience of that, herself and constituents. By acting as quickly as we can and offering support, we can reduce the number of people who are pushed into homelessness. Of course, ending homelessness does not mean that no one will ever lose their home again. It means that, through prevention, it happens very rarely and when it does, it is brief. Scotland can become a world leader in ending homelessness, but we need the clarity and legislation for those threatened with homelessness and our current prevention measures and duties. Preventing homelessness would also reduce the use of temporary accommodation, and in my local authority, there is a severe shortage of suitable temporary accommodation. It is also very expensive and not an efficient use of resources. People in temporary accommodation usually arrive there due to change in circumstances—marriage breakdown, bereavement and job loss. It is a very traumatic time. Cuts to universal credit and increases in energy and national insurance will place people into poverty. Poverty has a major impact in this area. Prevention of homelessness needs to be embedded as referred to as the clear priority both nationally and locally. Formal cross-agency co-ordination is key as we move forward. On domestic abuse, I instantly met the Australian Women's Aid and we spoke about the cases and issues around rehousing women who had to leave the marital home. We need to closer work with homelessness in that regard. On those leaving care, I heard about the lack of dialogue in rehousing young adults who are standing in the care settings for longer than they needed to do, two or three years in some circumstances. On injustice, we heard people recovering from addictions, and again, that intense level of support that is required. Housing first has helped. Local cross-agency co-ordination is key. The crisis cross-sector group that Elena mentioned has recommended two main things. One was first always to place duties in the range of public bodies based on the principles of asking people about their housing situation, and we are necessary acting upon that information. Secondly, this is the key part, changing the current statutory homelessness framework. Local authorities must assist people at risk of homelessness, working partnership with the relevant partners, such as including health and social care and social landlords, to work closely. At the existing housing options framework is put on a statutory basis. I have had too many cases speaking to too many constituents who are dealt with by different housing officers in different ways. We cannot have it that continuing in that way. That would go away a major way at addressing people's risk of homelessness. In conclusion, the proposals can bring many benefits. They would require more assistance to be provided to households facing housing problems at an earlier stage, preventing them from reaching crisis point, giving them a stronger voice and more control during the process. It would also help to clarify the legal framework, join up services and provide more accountability. It would ensure that people can move on as fast as possible into the house, which meets their needs, makes the best use of options available within the housing market and gives them the dignity of a roof over their head. 20 years ago, the Scottish homelessness task force called for more effective prevention on homelessness. It identified the need for more work on evictions, on support, on people leading institutions such as army, prison and hospital. We have known for a long time what is needed, but progress has been slower than we would like. I am proud that the Scottish Government and Greens are consulting on new plans to make housing more affordable and secure through measures such as rent controls, a housing first approach and restricting evictions. The new short-term licensing scheme and control area legislation will also give councils the powers to take action locally. The joint Scottish Government-caused consultation presents a new set of legal duties as another tool for greater homelessness prevention, which is welcome. Changing the law is just a foundation for a wider change in culture, a change in training and awareness, a change in systems and processes, a stronger leadership and adequate budgets. Prevention Review Group's report states that responsibility to prevent homelessness should be a shared public responsibility. Every part of government must consider how they can contribute to that, but we need to consider capacity. Placing more responsibilities on already overstretched local authorities and health boards may not result in the improvements that we need, especially if we do not simultaneously address the root causes. Global inequality is rising, with wealth increasingly concentrated at the top. New period reviewed research shows how income inequality drives hundreds of people into homelessness every night by pricing lower-income households out of housing markets. We also know that people experiencing financial hardship and inequality are at increased risk of mental health challenges and that poor mental health is one of the biggest causes of homelessness. We know that the growing number of homes being used is short-term less. Combined with the high numbers of second homes, flats and houses used as investments instead of homes inflates house prices and rents to the point where many cannot afford to remain in their homes or neighbourhoods. That is a particular problem in rural and island areas, where temporary homeless accommodation is often far away from local support networks and registered services such as GPs. We should support initiatives, like Smart Clacken in South Uist, which provides affordable and community-led housing, workspace, veg gardens and community support, and the Ach Kerrin site at Gerlock, Wester Ross, which is a great example of a rural 20-minute neighbourhood. Projects like those can counter homelessness and depopulation in rural areas, but we must also address the larger forces that I outlined. We must consider more progressive taxation to tackle inequality. I look forward to the process of developing a fairer form of local taxation, including the citizens assembly on council tax. Finally, we must resist the clawback of devolved powers through the likes of the internal markets bill and the Brexit freedoms bill. Scotland must be allowed to follow its own path to prioritise tackling inequality, promoting fairness, dignity and respect, and ending homelessness. Thank you. I call Emma Roddick to be followed. Oh, point of order, Jeremy Balfour. I'm grateful. Jeremy Balfour could help me. That was a very interesting contribution by Ms Burgess. The issue is that we can't intervene on her, and I hope that we have a debate is really a speech. The chamber is not busy this morning. I'm just wondering at what point will members be encouraged to give their speeches either in the chamber or they'll be aware that we can intervene in structural ways so that we can have a debate rather than just speeches? Mr Balfour will be aware that the facility exists at the moment for members to participate remotely for reasons that he understands related to public health issues, so that facility does exist at the moment. There is work under way with regards to looking at a system that will enable members participating both in the chamber and remotely to intervene. I myself have benefited from a pilot, but obviously there would be an issue of procurement there as well. There will be further update provided in due course. I call Emma Roddick to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I want to start off by recognising the amazing work that was done by the homelessness and rough sleeping action group in getting us to where we are today. The focus on early intervention could save a lot of people, a lot of pain, and I am proud to be a member of the committee that is tasked with scrutinising forthcoming legislation because that is proof that this Government is rightly considering homelessness as a social justice issue, not simply one of buildings. The key aspect of the cabinet secretary's motion for me today is the mention of a trauma-informed approach. Too often people make assumptions based on that one word, homeless. Employers will take one look at your care of address and they will chuck your CV away as quick as I do a Tory leaflet. Your pals start to judge you and doctors do not want to prescribe you medication. Not only do people often become homeless due to trauma such as abuse, the effect on your life of being without the security of a home cannot be overstated. I remember crying as I put clothes and belongings into bags to give away because I had nowhere to keep them. I remember leaving an appointment at a crisis centre and beginning the 10-minute walk to my friend's house where I would be staying that night and knowing that I would not be able to walk all the way. I made it just out of view of the centre and I sunk down by a fence and I was too sad to cry. I do not know how long I sat there, but the weight of feeling that I was a burden that I had lost so much and that I was essentially too unwell to ever get myself out of that situation was literally weighing me down to the ground. There is no question that homelessness is a trauma. From the experience itself, including the constant worry to the way that you are treated, even by those who are there to help, it is not something that you ever get over. To those who try to gatekeep deciding who is homeless and who is not based on whether they chose—I said chose, usually it is forced—to leave the place that they were living before, whether they are sleeping on the streets, a sofa or somewhere that they are just not safe, please consider what I have said and stop diminishing those horrific experiences. Delter Scotland reminded MSPs in their briefing prior to the debate that, in order for homelessness prevention efforts to succeed, there have to be enough homes for people to move into. In the Highlands and Islands, that is particularly critical. There might be wiggle room for people to move a few bus stops away in a bigger city, but a council house available in Caithness is not going to help someone who has a job and a family in Skye. When thousands upon thousands of buildings made to be homes are being bought up and used as anything but, particularly in rural areas where the stock is low to start with, communities are being destroyed. Within the Highland Council, young people in Skye are most likely to present as homeless at home. That Skye also houses a large percentage of the Highlands, Arabian Bees is not a coincidence. The proliferation of short-term lets in fragile communities is forcing young people in my region into homelessness or out of the region. I am glad that we are taking time today to talk about a duty to prevent homelessness. I am glad that Scotland is a world leader in this policy area, but every day I see the damage that is being done to the Highlands and Islands and I know that we can and must do more not only to build more homes but to make sure that they stay as homes. We need a rounded approach to tackling homelessness and I believe that with the new deal for tenants duties to prevent homelessness and an ambitious house building programme we are getting there, but I do hope to see stronger action on second and holiday homes alongside those in future. No need to clap before I start, but thank you. I want to contribute in a positive and constructive way this afternoon, because I think that there is a lot of agreement in regard to what the Government is trying to do and there is cross-party support. As we have heard from a number of speakers, this is a massive issue here in Scotland. Every 19 minutes, a household is becoming homeless. Over 11,000 children were assessed as homeless last year. That is equivalent to 32 children per day. In light of these figures, there is no doubt that homelessness is an issue that requires a swift and concrete effort to tackle. The basic necessities that a home provides, such as a shelter, security, is fundamental and is the only way that people can thrive and fully live their lives. It is an ambitious target that our amendment sets out. To eradicate rough sleeping by 2026 is no easy task. However, if we focus our efforts on tackling the root causes of homelessness and building robust systems that are built to deal with cases quickly and efficiently, I believe that we can be met. However, there is a caveat to what I have said. It can only be met if there is appropriate funding for local authorities and the third sector. We can have the best legislation in the world. We can have one word in a chamber. However, if you are a local authority across Scotland or if you are a third sector charity working with people, if you do not know where your money is coming from or if your budget is being cut, you cannot provide those services. As I have said previously, I used to work for a charity that helps people with homelessness. Each December, we were offered a letter of redundancy because there was no guarantee that we would be funded for next year. That cannot go on. On the issue of funding, Jeremy Balfour will be aware that, at the moment, we have about £80 million into discretionary housing budgets. Over £60 million of that is to mitigate on the bedroom tax. Would he agree that it would be better if the UK Government scrapped the bedroom tax and then we could use that £60 million plus for other homelessness services? Would that be a good use of funding? Jeremy Balfour As the cabinet secretary points out to me on a regular basis, we all make political choices. I have been elected to this Parliament to make political choices. If the Scottish Government could work on the powers that it has and use them more effectively, homelessness could be much less of an issue rather than keep sniping other Westminster Government. I think that what is clear is that when we talk about ending homelessness in Scotland, we should not talk of some kind of atopia time when no one will ever be in a position to lose their home. No Government can guarantee that, at least not while the population maintains with a degree of free choice. Rather, we are talking about creating a system by which no one is forced to sleep rough because there is a system ready and waiting to aid them in finding another. We found that system during the pandemic. I know here in Edinburgh that rough sleeping was almost completely eroded during that time. Why? Funding was provided, local authorities, Scottish Government and the third sector worked together. Yet, two years on from that period, we now have rough sleeping happening again. That is a challenge for all of us, but in particular for this Government. We want to work together. I want to work with anyone in this chamber who truly wants to eradicate this blight on Scottish society, but we can only do it not with warm words but with action and money. I thank Jackie Dunbar, the last speaker in the open debate. I am pleased to speak on the Scottish Government motion today, and I welcome the publication of the joint Scottish Government and COSLA consultation on prevention of homelessness duties. In Scotland, we have already strong rights for those who find themselves in a homeless situation, but it is so important that we strengthen that legislation around early intervention and giving people facing homelessness more choice and more control over where they live. Early action should be a shared public responsibility, and we should be looking to act as early as possible to ensure that disruption to people's lives is minimised. At the end of the day, everyone should have a home to call their own, no matter who they are, what they do for a living or what they earn. It is their right to have somewhere they call home. As I said, we all have a duty, which is why I asked the member if she would agree with me about the void situation. In Aberdeen City Council, we have 1,200 council houses that are currently sitting empty. It costs our tenants £2 million to the housing revenue account for that, but 1,200 council houses out of our stock is £22,000 is a large amount. That could go a long, long way in helping the homelessness situation. Ensuring access to early interventions would hopefully reduce the need to use temporary accommodation facilities. While temporary accommodation provides a safety net for those at risk of homelessness, it can prove to be very expensive for local authorities and tenants alike. Ensuring quick access is available to sustainable accommodation if homelessness does occur, along with suitable support will help to stop the cycle of homelessness that can occur. Putting adequate support in place to sustain existing tenancies will also save the individuals involved from the incredible, stressful and traumatic experience of having to go through the homelessness process to get rehoused. At this point, I would like to say a big thank you to the team at Aberdeen City Council, Kay Dyick, and her homelessness section for doing an absolutely brilliant job. Engaging with tenants who are facing homelessness has been successfully implemented in Aberdeen, who in partnership with Turning Point are running a housing first scheme to support tenants with multiple needs to help them to move away from homelessness. Housing first is proven to be successful in supporting people with repeat histories of homelessness and who experience multiple disadvantages into independent and stable accommodation. Once housed, they are provided with supportive services and connections to community-based support so that they sustain their housing and avoid returning to homelessness. It is absolutely essential that we look to strengthen our existing homelessness prevention legislation and ensure that there is a duty on public bodies to ask people about their housing situation and take action if needed, as early intervention is absolutely key. Placing our responsibility on the likes of health and social care services, children's services, police and other bodies to have a legal duty to ask and act to prevent homelessness really will be game-changing for people who are potentially facing homelessness. I wholeheartedly support the motion before us today. Thank you. We will now move to closing speeches. I call on Rosa Grant to wind up for Scottish Labour around five minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I too would draw members' attention to my register of interests. It is unacceptable in Scotland today that far too many people are forced to experience the trauma of homelessness, and we see a 3 per cent increase last year in the numbers facing that. According to the Scottish Government's own homelessness in Scotland report, a quarter of those homeless households have children. It is a worrying statistic to think that, in this day and age, under the SNP, child poverty is in the rise, the cost of living is in the rise, and so many children are living day to day without the security of having a safe place to sleep. The SNP and the Green Government must put the welfare of children and safety of children first. Carol Mocken talked about the devastation that homelessness causes to the individual. The prevention of homelessness duties consultation is an opportunity to really change this, to look at how we provide early intervention and joined up services. Mark Griffin talked about how all services should have a duty to prevent homelessness as they can pick up issues a lot earlier than councils directly dealing with homelessness. That was a point that was amplified by tests wide. It is key to ensuring that people are given help and assistance that they need before they are homeless. Mark Griffin also talked about the £1 billion cut that is faced by local Government, which means that they are not able to react in the way that we would wish them to. Councils are at the front line of prevention and rehousing but are underfunded. Carol Mocken talked about her lack of confidence in the new initiative due to the lack of investment, a point also made by Willie Rennie in the debate. Without investment, this policy will be useless and it will be yet another empty promise from this Government. We need to have early intervention—it is a must. Miles Briggs talked about people seeking help when they were homeless rather than before, but we often hear people who are threatened with homelessness—I have it in my case work—being told to stay put until they are actually homeless, which means that the changes to their housing situation goes largely unplanned. Ruth Maguire and Ellen Whitton talked about choice, which is right, and people should have choice. However, if they are at a time of crisis, choice is not there. It will not be available, so early intervention is key. Mark Griffin, Willie Rennie and several other people talked about the change from permanent accommodation to stable accommodation. I know that the cabinet secretary has heard that, and I hope that she takes on board that point made by Shelter and emphasised throughout the debate. A major cause of homelessness in rural areas, as Ariane Burgess and Emma Roddick talked about, is the rise of second homes and the holiday home market. Young people simply cannot compete because they are on low wages and have unstable incomes, and therefore, they are forced away from their home miles away, probably into towns and cities. Yet, the Scottish Government is not building affordable homes in rural areas, and it is not taking measures to retain them locally for the population. I have recently heard that two housing associations—I will give me a moment. I have recently heard that only two housing associations are building in Highland and Council area, because it was close to impossible to do so. Obviously, one of the issues that has been raised is about short-term lets. As Emma Roddick pointed out, legislation to control short-term lets was important. Can Rhoda Grant tell us how Labour voted on the short-term legislation just a few weeks ago? Rhoda Grant knows that that short-term legislation was not right. It did not take into account local circumstances. Had the Government been keener to devolve power to local authorities who could have shaped that legislation in the right way, it would have made a real difference. That was the whole point. Many of the powers were devolved to local authorities to use as they saw fit. I do not understand why Labour voted against it in the chamber when it supported a committee. It does not make any sense. It does make sense. I think that the cabinet secretary knows very well that my colleague Mark Griffin tried very, very hard to make that legislation acceptable to people in Scotland and certainly in rural areas where short-term lets can also provide an income. It has to be balanced with population retention. If we do not do that, then it will not work. Can I turn quickly to domestic abuse? Many of us will have been contacted by constituents who are homeless at a desperate point in their lives. Many have no choice but to flee. I agree with what Elena Whitham was saying about that they should be supported to keep their own homes and stay in their own homes, but many are far too traumatised to do so. We need to make sure that they are safe and secure accommodation for them and their children to support them when rebuilding their lives. In conclusion, Willie Rennie and Jeremy Balfour talked about what happened during Covid and the intervention that took place, literally taking people off the streets and putting a roof over their head. That shows very much where there is a will and a way. We can only end homelessness with sufficient resources provided to local authorities and putting additional responsibilities on them without the funding will mean that there will be no change. The Scottish Government needs to enable them to look after those who are most in need of the time that they need it. I now call on Alexander Stewart to wind up for the Scottish Conservatives. I am grateful for the opportunity to close the debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. Reducing and preventing homelessness should be a priority for all Governments of all colours. Not only is it preventing homelessness already a statutory obligation in many cases, but it is also clearly a moral obligation. We have heard much today about the context of homelessness in Scotland, and it is clear that there is much more to be done to tackle the problem. However, the latest figures released only today are a stark reminder of the current situation, and that is uncomfortable reading for us. It is not acceptable that nearly 5,000 adults in Scotland sleep rough at least once a year, and thousands of individuals are in temporary accommodation the length and breadth of Scotland. Given that, I welcome what is to be discussed and has been discussed in preventing homelessness consultation that was launched jointly between the Scottish Government and COSLA last month, the consultation is right to talk about the fight against homelessness being a shared responsibility and stresses the importance of interventions in cases of possible homelessness. The consultation also talks about the importance of protecting women who have been made homeless as a result of domestic abuse, and that is a vitally important aspect, because what we see is that there may be many more statistics than we are aware of. However, there is still much to be done to ensure that proposals become reality, and that is what we are talking about today—it is reality, it is not at words, it is actions. For example, while Shetland Scotland has welcomed the 10 million committed to ending homelessness together in next year's budget, it says that it does not go far enough and more is required. It is also right that councils are expected to carry out duties and deal with homelessness when they are seeing their budgets cut. Once again, that is an area that they know their responsibilities and they are trying to do the best that they can, but they need to have the resource behind them, and many people have spoken about that in the debate this afternoon. It is also a fact that councils will take on further duties and obligations, but they must do that, and they have to be given support to do that. It is also right that the fact that measured proposals are taking place during the consultation. Shetland Scotland also expressed that the only way of dealing with homelessness was to build more homes. That is the fact, but the social housing remains a significant difference between what is planned and what is talked about. That problem has not been helped by the Scottish Government on missing its affordable housing targets on previous parliamentary sessions. The case is that the level of investment needs to be there. The Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland has said that the £831 million committed to affordable housing in next year's budget is still not enough for the SNP to meet its targets of building 110 affordable houses by 2032. It is clear that the battle against homelessness continues and that it is a struggle to ensure that individuals take place. Back as far as 2018, the Scottish Government stated the ending homelessness target, the plan that it put together, but that still needs to ensure that homelessness is tackled. While following on that three years later, we still see that housing first has been talked about and has been praised, but there still much more needs to be done to ensure that housing first is a reality. It is not happening right across. There are only pilots and projects that are taking place. If we talk about tackling the issue and ensuring that the funding is there, previously, there would have been £10.8 million of investment in the housing first scheme. Once again, that requires more. We have talked about measures that help rent schemes and proposed for the rent scheme. That would help some way of going forward. I thank all those who have given us briefings today in Sheltas Scotland and the charities, but I also want to talk about some of the contributions. My colleagues Miles Briggs talked about sustainable accommodation, suitable accommodation and stable homes. They are all very much part of the process, and to ensure that that takes place, there has to be a balance between what is taking place and the funding that goes with it. We also must talk about the drug misuse, the mental health issues, the lack of funding, sustainable accommodation and social care. When we see that three in six times people are falling beneath the trap and even dying from the process in Scotland because of the situation, they have mental health issues and social housing issues. They are all part of the mix. Mark Griffin spoke about the collective responsibility. There is a collective responsibility for the Government here and for councils to deal with that sustainable. Will there any give us some of the stark statistics? 27,000 individuals, 13,000 in accommodation and 7,500 in children, those actions need to be tackled to ensure. However, we cannot do that when there are hundreds of millions of pounds being removed from budgets. Tess might give a very passionate speech about her own area and her own region and talk about housing first being escalated across Scotland. We also talked about applications, but we must have the social, the health, the children, the police and the prisons. They all must work together to ensure that we can achieve that. Jeremy Balfour talked about the cross-party support that is around. There is cross-party support on the issue, but we cannot cope when one individual every 19 minutes is found to be homeless. We want to see the eradication by 2026, and we believe that that can be achieved. In conclusion, we are all aware that there is not one single cause of homelessness and there is not one single solution. My party still believes that it is possible to end rough sleeping by 2026, but it is clear that it is only possible with significant action and investment on the issue. I will therefore conclude by urging the Government to tackle this multi-pronged approach by tackling homelessness and to leave no stone unturned because the people of Scotland deserve that, and we should provide that. Can I first of all welcome the contributions from across the chamber in what has in the main been a constructive debate and helpful in taking forward the consultation on those proposals? I want to try to refer to as many comments and to pick up on a couple of issues that have been raised during the course. Miles Briggs was absolutely right when he said that it is not just about bricks and mortar, it is about access to services, whatever those are, whether it is addiction services, supports and, of course, that is absolutely right. That is what the housing first model and the rapid housing plans are based around, that it is not just about bricks and mortar, Mac Griffin. He talked about the comments of crisis and the Salvation Army around funding, and the only point that I would make is that some of those comments predated the additional money that was announced in the programme for government, the additional £50 million, and I will come on to resources later on because that has been raised by a number of people. The point about what Willie Rennie made, I would point to him that stakeholders have said that our legislation is world-leading. In terms of the issue about language, I would point out that the language of stable and suitable was a recommendation by those with lived experience, and I think that that is really important. That is an option for those at risk of homelessness and where it can be prevented. Permanent is the duty when somebody is assessed as unintentionally homeless by councils, and that will not change. It is about choice for those at risk and options for those who are homeless if they want to take that option. We are talking about slightly different things, so I hope that that clarification is clear, because it is important to recognise the wishes of those with lived experience around that language. Eleanor Whitham recognised her experience and knowledge about needing to work upstream and her input into the work of the group before coming to this place, and she highlighted the needs of domestic abuse victims. Tess White talked about Dundee and I above anybody else in many respects in this chamber fully understand the issue of mental health and drug deaths within the city and how important resolving and moving forward on those issues is. However, on her point and comments about housing first, the Dundee has gone quite far with the closure of hostels, which is what we want to see. Of course, it was one of the pathfinders for housing first. It is using specialist organisations such as Women's Aid to provide specialist services to those who need housing services in the city, so I do not think that her portrayal of housing first was wholly fair. Ruth Maguire talked very briefly. I appreciate that you have taken intervention. One of the statistics that the local government committee has been told is that between 5 and 8 per cent of people who will need support will need assisted living and supported living. Where is the Government's view on that and how that can be funded? That is an important point. Local authorities need additional support to deliver that. This is an area where local authorities sometimes struggle with people with very complex needs. I have asked officials to look at that in more detail about how we could help those with more complex needs. Ruth Maguire talked about affordability. The new deal for tenants has affordability of rent levels at the heart of that. Carol Wohan talked about council funding, and I will come back to that. On temporary accommodation, for example, as you have seen in statistics, 24 of the 32 local authorities made progress in reducing the use of temporary accommodation. There is something about sharing best practice and adopting what works across all local authorities. On the issue of prevention pathways, Ariane Burgess made the point that those prevention pathways are important for those at greatest risk of homelessness. Emma Roddick gave a very powerful testimony of her own lived experience and the need to have consistency of action, for example, on second homes and short-term lets. Jeremy Balfour talked about resources. I want to come back to resources more generally. In addition to the resources to local government, we have put in a huge amount of resources to ending homelessness, £100 million. In the draft budget, we have maintained a £23.5 million allocated to local authorities on anio basis for homelessness prevention and response measures. We have provided a further £10 million from the ending homelessness together fund for next year. In addition to that, we have the discretionary housing payment budget of £80 million, which councils monitor and administer on our behalf. £68 million of that is for mitigation of the bedroom tax. I am all for political choices, but it is a bit difficult to come here asking for us to make different political choices when some of the political choices made by the UK Government impact directly on our budget. If we did not have to mitigate and use £68 million for mitigation of the bedroom tax, we could spend that nearly £70 million on other homelessness services. Yes, political choices are important, but so are the political choices made by others that impact directly on our budgets. That is perhaps something that the Tories in this place should reflect on. In addition to all of that, we have £831 million for affordable homes that will be taken forward in this year. Part of a £3.5 billion over this parliamentary term—I would just make the point that that is head and shoulders above anything across those islands—is that any other Government is delivering on affordable housing. While I absolutely accept that there is more to do, I think that there has to be a bit of recognition of the resources that this Government is putting in to housing and addressing homelessness. Just finally, on a couple of other issues, Jackie Dunbar on voids absolutely. Although there has been an issue with the pandemic on being able to turn voids around for all of the reasons that we understand, we want to make sure that local authorities are turning around voids as quickly as they can. The issue of voids, if you understood it, was about getting tradespeople and supplies to turn around voids because of the global supply issues that our hampering councils have been able to do. Rhoda Grant says that she wants more action to address short-term lets. In my intervention, I made the point that consistency on the issue is probably important, because we need to give local authorities the basket of powers that they require in order to address the issue. Finally, on the proposals, there has been a lot of consensus here that prevention is absolutely better than cure in terms of homelessness. Earlier, we can intervene to prevent homelessness through the measures that we are already taking, but also the measures that are included in the proposals that we are consulting on. The more we can support people to avoid homelessness in the first place, that is something that I am absolutely determined to do. I would like to make a point of order. Shona Robison, the cabinet secretary, misrepresented what I said about the housing first team in Dundee. I actually said quite the opposite. You can look back at the text. I said that the team had been cut to the bone, so I was saying that they needed more support, so I was misrepresented. I thank Ms White for her contribution. That is not a point of order, because it is not a matter for the chair. The chair is not responsible for the content of statements made by members, but there is a corrective mechanism as regards the official report that the member may wish to look into.