Scottish government adds £50m to homelessness prevention fund

The Scottish government has announced a further £50m to help prevent homelessness through financial support for social landlords. 

The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Homeless Network Scotland are administering phase two of the Upstream Homelessness Prevention Fund, which is making £1m available to registered providers and homelessness charities for a second year.

This aims to help tenants stay in their homes by providing a range of support to households in Glasgow, including assistance with rent arrears, repairs and furniture costs alongside initiatives to prevent people becoming homeless.

Deputy first minister Jenny Gilruth said: “This fund will help build up capacity of communities and public services to act earlier, supporting people before situations become critical and embedding prevention across organisations that interact with those at risk.”

The fund is in addition to the £9 million invested to “mitigate” the impact of the UK government’s decision to freeze Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates in 2026-27.

Maeve McGoldrick, head of policy and communications at Crisis Scotland, said: “To maximise the impact of this investment, it will be important that funding is frontloaded in the early years to underpin the initial implementation, systems change and capacity building required to deliver the new prevention duties effectively.

“It is vital that strategic decisions are made now to ensure this funding supports a robust nationwide implementation plan between now and the commencement of new ‘Ask and Act’ duties at the end of 2028. This should provide the foundations for a sustainable approach to prevention that supports all forms of homelessness and reaches communities across every part of Scotland.”

The ‘ask and act’ duty will be introduced under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, requiring public bodies to actively inquire about a person’s housing situation and take action to prevent homelessness.