Huge slump in number of people allocated housing in Fife due to lockdown

Councillors on Fife's Environment, Finance and Communities Scrutiny Committee heard that a drop in evictions and properties being furnished led to a fall in available homes, with the earliest stages of lockdown having the biggest impact on allocations.

From April to June 2020, just 58 people either waiting to enter social housing or transfer to a new tenancy were given a home, compared with 197 in 2019.

Covid, councillors were told, had made an "immediate, significant and damaging impact" on housing services. The number of overall allocations fell year-on-year from 1,752 in 2019 to 1,296, or 26%.

In addition, the council was reprimanded by the Scottish Housing Regulator after failing to immediately source temporary accomodation on four occasions in the early stages of the pandemic for people presenting as homeless.

Gavin Smith, housing access service manager, told the virtual meeting: "It has been a difficult year for us."

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However, following the launch of a "housing access recovery plan", Fife has worked to get housing services back up to speed.

Officers have prioritised allocating homes for those presenting as homeless despite additional challenges in this area, such as people leaving their homes following lockdown-related disputes with partners or landlords.

As restrictions eased, officers were able to allocate homes in near pre-Covid quantities. Between October and December 2020, 112 people on the waiting list were given a home, compared with 128 in 2019.

Staff also worked to create additional temporary accommodation, sought the support of Fife Women's Aid to create and operate six new refuges for those no longer safe in their homes and embarked on a shopping spree of buying homes, with 50 purchases completed and another 27 pending approval.

In total, 200 extra temporary furnished homes have been made available through a combination of Fife Council houses, housing association stock and a small number of private rented dwellings.

Projections within the council suggest that as many as 4,000 households could present as homeless next year, up from an annual average of 2,500.

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