Felly, mae unledig o'r busnesau ydw i'w ddebêu. Felly, mae o'r ffôn iawn I-4962 o'r digb â Kevin Stewart o fy nghydfball o'r fimpiwn i gyd. Y Llywodraeth Cymru, Eileen Campbell, to speak to it and move the motion. Before I start, I would like to take the chance to congratulate the men and women who represented Team Scotland at the Homeless World Cup in Mexico earlier this month. The players' determination, drive and spirit is inspiring and their participation plays a crucial role in changing attitudes and perceptions of homelessness. They have all done Scotland incredibly proud. That leads me on to what today's debate is all about, moving forward with the actions that we need to take to tackle homelessness with determination and drive in order to provide people with the support and homes that they need. Everyone should have a safe, warm place that they can call home. Home is a place where we feel secure, have roots and a sense of belonging. It supports our physical, emotional health and wellbeing. That is why the publication earlier this week of our high-level action, Ending Homelessness Together, is so important. It translates the aspirations and recommendations from the homelessness and rough-sleeping action group into tangible actions—actions that will, by working and partnership, end homelessness and rough-sleeping and transform temporary accommodation. Crucially, it is not just our view that this plan will help to transform our approach to homelessness. Crisis chief executive and chair of the action group, John Sparks and Lorraine McGrath from the Simon community said in an article at the weekend that the plan will cement Scotland's position as a world leader in securing the human right to housing that every citizen should have. Sally Thomas, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Association, said that the publication of this action plan gives us an historic opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of vulnerable people across Scotland facing homelessness. This plan keeps Scotland at the global forefront of tackling homelessness and builds on what are already the strongest rights for homeless people in the world with everybody found to be homeless legally entitled to housing. There is much positive work to build on. Our focus on prevention through five regionally grouped housing options hubs has contributed to a 39 per cent reduction in homelessness applications over the last eight years. We have delivered over 78,000 affordable homes since 2007 and are on track to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of this Parliament, including 35,000 for social rent backed by more than £3 billion. The reality is that we need to do more. For some, finding accommodation and support at a time when they need it most can be a struggle and homelessness and housing insecurity remains a reality for too many. That is why building on our work so far and driven by our ambition to create a fairer equal Scotland, we are resoluting our commitment to work towards a Scotland that has no place for homelessness and rough sleeping. That commitment to end rough sleeping and homelessness was set out last autumn by the First Minister and backed by funding of £50 million over five years. That is why the homelessness and rough sleeping action group, Harsag, was set up. Harsag was asked to identify the actions needed to end rough sleeping and homelessness and how we could transform temporary accommodation. Chared by crisis CEO John Sparks and a variety of experts and stakeholders, Harsag worked at a remarkable pace to first produce a set of concrete actions for preventing rough sleeping last winter and then on to develop 78 bold recommendations. In addition to this work by Harsag, the Scottish Parliament's local government and communities committee inquiry into homelessness reported on their recommendations earlier this year. I want to thank both Harsag and the committee for the two pieces of work that are important both in driving the momentum and pace of change needed to make good on the vision to create a person-centred system and an end to homelessness in Scotland. Graepole to the cabinet secretary for a given way. She talks about the pace for change. Her report references the state of temporary accommodation but says that new standards will not be in place until 2023. Does she really think that that is the sort of pace of change that we are looking for? We continue to work with partners and of course we are saying this and taking forward these actions with a recognition that we need to do more and we will continue to do more. We will work in partnership to change the culture and ensure that those who need housing and who need support get that support when they need it. We recognise that there are areas that we need to concentrate on and areas that we need to do more on. The recommendations in action seek to transform current approaches and culture by ensuring that it is people, not just stats or numbers or targets that are at heart, and to do so required the voice of lived experience to shine through and shape and hone what we do and what we should do. Through a project called I We Can, led by the Glasgow homelessness network, I have heard from more than 400 people with lived experience to understand what would have helped better support them. I wonder if the experience of one homeless person whom I regularly see sitting on a pavement in Edinburgh might inform this. There are dangers to which he and others are exposed that we wouldn't think of. In a traffic accident place, a vehicle left the road and he got three cracked ribs when it hit him. Is that not exactly the kind of experience that we are all working together to avoid too many people being exposed to that kind of danger? I think that all voices and all views and the lived experience work that has been carried out by Kevin Stewart, the Harsag group and others has been critical in shaping and honing the work that we are taking forward. That is not going to just stop now that the work has completed and the action plan is now published. That will continue to feed through into what we do, as well as in all host of other areas of work across the Government. It is lived experience that is crucial in helping us to get our policies right. Harsag has also listened to the views of the dedicated front-line staff, who day in day out continue to make a difference to those experiences in homelessness. Those views have been crucial in informing the action set out in their high-level action plan. Embedding a person-centred approach is central to our plans. That is to both significantly improve the experience of homeless people, but to also drive forward the systemic change needed to end homelessness. That is why, in partnership with local government, housing and delivery partners, we will develop an ending homelessness together, the lived experience programme. That will ensure the engagement that got us to this place will not stop and will enable a continuation of listening to people with lived experience and front-line staff. Unfortunately, it will not just be listening, it will be about acting and responding to those messages to ensure change and improvement. It is because we know that there is no single path into homelessness, but in reality a variety of social and economic factors that means helping someone to resolve their housing needs, demands a personalised, tailored response that is agile and adaptable. Therefore, we will work with local government and housing and delivery partners to give people experiencing homelessness greater control and choice and ensure that services are working with them to build a package of support that will lead to positive future outcomes. That will include the development of policy options and how new personal housing plans will work alongside a housing options approach. We will continue to listen to front-line staff and ensure that they are well equipped to carry out their work with high-quality training, including in trauma, addictions and mental health. We will work with our partners to ensure that systems, policies and procedures empower front-line staff, placing resources in their hands, allowing them to make the best decisions that are centred around the needs of the person that is in front of them. That will be supported by the development of the housing options training toolkit, which will see the first modules delivered in spring 2019. Where children are homeless, a wellbeing assessment will be undertaken in relation to each child in the household to ensure that any additional learning or social support is put in place. We will continue to explore what measures can be put in place to prevent rough sleeping and homelessness for those without recourse to public funds, working in partnership with COSLA and others to ensure that clear guidance and training is provided and disseminated to key audiences. Together with partners, including local authorities, the third sector and people with lived experience, we will develop a public perceptions campaign to challenge misconceptions about homelessness. We know that there are some groups of people who are at greater risk of becoming homeless, including people fleeing of violence and abuse, people leaving the care system and those leaving prison. We will work with partners to develop clear pathways to avoid homelessness in their groups briefly. I raised with the Minister for Housing on several occasions the fact that 40 per cent of those young people who declare themselves homeless in Edinburgh do so, because they have had difficulty coming out. I can find no reference to that in the main body of the report. Why not? LGBT representatives have been involved with the development of many of the policies that we are taking forward today, and we will continue to work with the member if she wants around making sure that that is very clear to her, because it has been clear and it has been very much at the centre of the work that we are taking forward, recognising that so many different groups and organisations and people have particular needs and we need to make sure that that is reflected in the policies that we take forward. For instance, the shore standards for ensuring that everyone has sustainable housing in place on release from prison are an example of a pathway and we are already working in partnership with local authorities and Scottish Prison Service to support their implementation in every area. In all cases, successful prevention of homelessness will rely on better, more consistent joint working between various agencies and sectors, and we know that getting this right will also bring multiple benefits for the people that we serve. For instance, our new drug and alcohol strategy, rights, respect and recovery highlights how vital having a safe and secure home is for prevention of and recovery from problematic alcohol and drug use. When someone who is vulnerable or at risk and seeks help, it should not matter who they turn to or to what organisation. Our system needs to be person-centred, trauma-informed and agile with an adoption of a no-wrong door culture that enables the person to get the help that they need when they need it. In pursuit of an approach based on effective prevention, it requires a culture change for all organisations that deal with people at risk of or experience in homelessness. Getting that right is important and again was articulated in the article by John Sparks and Lorraine McGrath. Homelessness also needs to be solved with pace. Again, taking on building on the points that Kezia Dugdale has made, rapid rehousing seeks to secure a settled mainstream housing outcome for households as quickly as possible. Part of the solution will require a transformation in the use of temporary accommodation, meaning time spent in any form of temporary accommodation should be reduced to a minimum where the fewer transitions the better. Being settled in a home with the right support enables the sense of wellbeing, community and belonging. We need to recognise the importance of settled housing as the foundation for a person to tackle an array of challenges, including addictions, mental health, physical health, employment and avoiding offending and reoffending. We want to see a significant shift towards rapid rehousing by default, including housing first for those that it is appropriate for. Housing first provides ordinary settled housing as a first response for people with multiple needs. Housing first recognises that a safe, secure home is the best base for recovery and for addressing other challenges in life. That is why we have already allocated £23.5 million from the Ending Homelessness Together fund and health portfolio to support that transition, with up to £6.5 million of that supporting our partnership with Social Byte, who are working with the Cora Foundation, Glasgow homelessness network and third sector partners to deliver housing first pathfinders in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. The production of rapid rehousing transition plans, including housing first, will be a fundamental and central plank of the changes to come over the coming years. Planning is now entering the final stages across the 32 local authorities, with plans due to be submitted in December for implementation from April 8 next year. Of course, we will focus on our efforts of preventing homelessness when homelessness does occur on effective response. It is crucial to safeguard people to prevent that issue, which caused homelessness in the first place becoming worse. That is particularly true of individuals who are at risk of rough sleeping. Last year, through the winter initiative, we showed how we can make a difference to those with long experiences through rough sleeping, extremely poor health and a consistent struggle with engaging with support. We will continue to support local winter planning, working with practitioner experts to develop and improve response to safeguard people's sleeping rough or at risk in our cities and urban centres this winter and all year round. Today, Kevin Stewart announced £370,000 to be spent on front-line outreach activity this winter, bringing spending on that to £918,000 since this time last year. The money will support additional emergency accommodation for those sleeping rough, improve the join-up between statutory and third sector services in Edinburgh and provide another £50,000 of front-line flexible funding to empower street outreach staff to make immediate changes for the person they are working with then and there. We will continue to work with our partners and continue to make good on the actions that we have set out and continue to be ambitious on the area. However, we will not cease the momentum that has built up to get us to this place. We will continue to deliver on our actions set out to create a person-centred holistic system that has prevention at its heart and delivered by empowered staff who can respond quickly to need. In doing so, we will make good on our ambitions to eradicate homelessness in Scotland, but we are not blind to the challenges that remain. That is why I will continue to be necessary to work in partnership with everyone who has that vision and ambition at their heart. This is an important debate on how we help those who are most in need as a measure of society's values. We have come a long way in the debate on homelessness in this parliamentary term. I took part in the year-long inquiry by the local government and communities committee, which preceded, and I would say led to, the government setting up the homeless and rough sleeping action group. The committee and Haasag produced broadly similar recommendations, which bring us here today. I first of all want to commend the government and Kevin Stewart for acting on those recommendations. I was pleased to read the ending homelessness together action plan on Tuesday, although, as with most government documents, quite a bit of it was waffle. It was, though, overall a positive document. The focus on a person-centred approach, on prevention, on providing settled homes for all and joining up resources are right. Our amendment today, which I move, takes nothing away from the government motion which we support. It focuses on unsuitable temporary accommodation. Research by crisis on unsuitable temporary accommodation mainly B&Bs and hostels shows that 60 per cent of residents were subject to curfews. Curfews, for goodness sake. Those people are not criminals. Three out of four weren't allowed visits from family and friends, and 81 per cent of those found that relationships suffered. No surprise there. 45 per cent said that they had no access to a kitchen, so skipped meals. Those lives in Limbo should not be tolerated. That is why all Opposition parties put our name to a statement at the weekend, calling on the government to bring in a change in the law to put a seven-day limit on the time that people can spend in such accommodation. Can I say that the Government will support Graham Simpson's amendment today? We recognise that work needs to be done here. We will consult on all that at a very early stage next year and bring forward legislation and due course to tackle that. I thank Mr Simpson for bringing that forward. I also urge all members to read the Harriet Watt study that came out on Monday on temporary accommodation in Scotland to get a grasp of how we need to personalise those services much more. I am delighted to hear that from the minister. We have said that the Government should announce that in the next programme for government. That is a realistic timeframe. It means that something will now happen. The local government and communities committee inquiry was detailed, harrowing at times but rewarding if it leads to action. We met many homeless people and I have met more subsequently some just minutes walk from here queuing up every night to bed down on the floor of a church hall at Meadowbank, moving and unsettling. The committee visited Finland where, frankly, it was the inspirational leadership of Helsinki's mayor Jan Vapavuri while housing minister, which brought in the country's first housing approach. They started by getting the ten biggest cities on board but the aim was clear to do away with hostels. What came across to me was the need for joined up working resources and leadership. We saw firsthand how housing first has worked in Finland and our committee recommended such an approach here. I think Mr Vapavuri summed it up well when he said that they changed their mindset. They decided that what people with multiple issues need first of all is a permanent home and then you can tackle the other problems. Housing first became one of our committee's key recommendations. It is good to see the Government get behind rapid rehousing and housing first. I think that the idea of having five housing first pathfinder cities does make sense. It is following the approach that they took in Finland. In order to bring about a seed change, in order to make a difference, we will notice that it takes more than an action plan, more than consultations, more than phrases like seeking partnerships, developing frameworks, exploring ways to help. In the end, on top of all the other actions outlined in the action plan, we need more houses. We need places for people to live and we will have to build them. Moving to a rapid rehousing model would mean increasing lets to homeless households by 45 per cent across the social and private rented sectors. If all need was to be met within the social housing sector, 52 per cent of all social lets across Scotland would have to be made to homeless households. Currently, an average of 41 per cent of all council lets and 26 per cent of RSL lets are made to homeless households. Clearly, the target of delivering 50,000 affordable homes in the lifetime of this Parliament will help, but we need to go further. Shelter Scotland's commission on housing and wellbeing has estimated that 150,000 households are on the waiting list for a home. It also estimated that 73,000 households are overcrowded. That shows the scale of the problem. The latest homelessness in Scotland statistics show that nearly 35,000 homelessness applications recorded during 2017-18, 402 more than the previous year. That is the first increase in nine years. It is a big number. Does Graham Simpson think that that might have something to do with the roll-out of universal credit given that it covers that same period? I know that it certainly does in my constituency. I think that homelessness is an extremely complex issue and there is not one reason for it. There are multiple reasons for it. We all need to accept that. Housing is a human right, but the huge lack of housing has led to people sleeping out on the streets, stuck in poor quality accommodation or in a cramped hostel room. We must redouble our efforts to address the public scandal. Finally, I want to touch on the issue that was raised by the Labour amendment, which we will be supporting. You will not often hear me engaging in gender politics. I do not think that I have ever done so in fact, so today may be a first, but Scottish Women's Aid is right to highlight the need to understand the causes of homelessness among women and children. Domestic abuse is a major cause of women's homelessness in Scotland, but women experiencing domestic abuse remain unprioritised within a list of groups with particular needs. I am closing in this Parliament across parties. The Government is moving in the right direction. It will never be quick enough, but it behoves us all to work together to end the scandal of people sleeping on the streets in hovels without a place to call their own. Thank you very much. I now call on Pauline McNeill to speak to and move amendment 14962.3. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I move the Labour amendment. The cause of homelessness outside winter night shelters have begun in many places. The average temperature in Scotland in December overnight is just above freezing, and in the past year here in Scotland, 94 men and women have died while homelessness is absolutely heartbreaking to us all. The scandal on our streets must end, and the action plan must go straight to the heart of the problem. It is no wonder that the average life expectancy of a rough sleeper is age 43. The isolation, the misery, the cold day and dignity, but only we can imagine that rough sleepers have to put up with, with little chance to enforce any right to have a bed for the night. We owe a great debt to organisations like the Glasgow Mission, the Bethany Trust, the Simon Community to Cyranians and many more for being out there and providing shelter where no one else has, but we know homelessness is more than bricks and mortar. The number of homeless applications has gone up for the first time in nine years, and the number of single homeless men is significant, as is the number of young women under the age of 24. There appears to be a change in the pattern of homelessness, and if that is the case, it is important to spot it and to try to understand why that is the case. I, too, would like to give credit to the local government committee, who I believe are driving force in this Parliament in making homelessness a real priority for the Scottish Government. We will, of course, support the Scottish Government in ending homelessness together. We recognise the work done in the action plan and the many organisations behind it, but I am proud of Labour's achievements in the last Labour Government, which created world-leading homelessness legislation. However, I hope that there is a recognition by the Scottish Government that none of that can be achieved without the recognition of the importance of local government in the delivery of that, and they need the resources to be able to do it and our amendment addresses that. The findings of the recent Scottish Government I will give way, yes? Kevin Stewart Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. The Government will support Labour's amendment today. I recognise that local government needs that help in hand to transform, to change culture, to ensure that we get this right. That is why we have the £50 million Ending Homelessness Together fund, and we have already committed large amounts of that to local government to allow them to make the change. Only last week, the commitment to £2 million to deal with rapid rehousing plans and housing first, will help local government to help us to make that change. We can only do that in partnership, and I agree with that point. Pauline McNeill I am on record as wholeheartedly welcoming those pots of money, which are important. However, the central point is that the baseline for delivery is local government and their budgets. Local government across the country is struggling, and there must be a recognition by the Scottish Government that, going forward, that has to be addressed in the budget. The findings of the recent Scottish Government report on health and homelessness came as no surprise. Homelessness and poor health are inextricably linked, and the interaction with some services, particularly those related to alcohol, drugs and mental health, increases the lead-up to a homelessness application. Those who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless are over-represented in accident and emergency. Those findings highlight the fact that, by the time that they are seen by a health professional, homeless people, rough sleepers in particular, are often at cries at the point. It was Hugh Hill, director of operations for the Simon community that pointed out that, it is past time that public health took an active role in addressing the stark health inequalities and exclusions that homeless people have to endure. That group does not just experience health inequalities, they define the term. Despite that, the health and homelessness standards 2005 was the last strategy for the NHS, boards in support of planning and provision for services for homeless people. I called for a renewed health strategy today. Mental health is the action plan that highlights the most commonly identified support need of a homeless household in Scotland, and in the past year that those figures bear that out. It has over doubled that of the number of households with drug and alcohol dependency, but it is also one of the most common reasons that people fail to maintain their tendencies. I have supported the Housing First initiative, and I will continue to do so. However, as Graham Simpson mentions in his contribution, the scandal of temporary accommodation and the law being broken on a regular basis has to require urgent action by the Scottish Government. Crisis has recently drawn attention to the fact that there is not just the number of people in temporary accommodation, but it is the suitability of that accommodation that needs to be addressed. In the past year, there were 400 placements involving a breach of the unsuitable accommodation order. The scope of the order should be extended, in my opinion, so that no one should expect to be placed in accommodation that is not wind or watertight and does not have cooking facilities. I think that I have only got a minute left, I am not sure. I think that I have only got a minute left, I am not sure. It is up to the member. We are relatively okay for time this afternoon. I will take it into my hands. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I thank Ms McNeill for giving way. 86 per cent of temporary accommodation at this moment in time in Scotland is mainstream social housing. Obviously, we want to see that go up, and we will do all that we can to do that. I have already said that we will pledge today to ensure that we move forward in this front. We will bring forward the consultation on temporary accommodation at the beginning of next year, and we will announce in the programme for government as Mr Simpson asked about how we legislate for that in the future. I think that we would all do well to support that. Pauli McNeill Okay. You said that to Graham Simpson, and I am quite happy to support that, and I do welcome it. Domestic abuse is one of the leading causes of homelessness that creates the necessity to put measures in place to protect women and children from fleeing violence. I agree with Women's Aid and the Chartered Institute of Housing that it is time to review legislation to ensure that survivors and not perpetrators of domestic abuse have a right to stay in their home should they choose to do so. I ask the Scottish Government to look at the call for the creation of an emergency fund to help survivors of domestic abuse to pay for items such as furniture for a new home. There must be a stark recognition that there is a gender dimension to homelessness in the action plan. Almost half of people who have made homelessness in Scotland, where the cause was rent of years in the last year, lived in the private sector. High rents are a problem in this whole debate. Evictions continue to be one of the key reasons why people lose their properties. That is why we will be supporting the Green amendment tonight, because we think that we need to deal with higher rents in this parliamentary session. I conclude by emphasising that local government is key to delivering the strategy on homelessness. Without local authorities, that action plan cannot work. Labour wants the Scottish Government to acknowledge in accepting our amendment tonight that we are voting to ensure that there are adequate resources to make this transformational change in the approach to housing and the rapid re-housing model that we wholeheartedly support. There must be a longer term plan set in place to build even more affordable homes beyond 2021, whoever the Scottish Government happens to be at that time. Without those commitments, the plan to reform temporary accommodation will not work. We are committed to joining with the Scottish Government and Opposition parties to ending homelessness with those providers. We believe that we can do just that. Greens welcome this debate. The human right to housing is a key priority for us, as I am sure it is for all other parties. Homelessness is an appalling condition to have to endure and is a mark of shame in any society. It is one of the basics of human survival along with food and water that is provided to some of the most vulnerable in society. I want to thank COSLA and the Scottish Government for publishing the high-level action plan and for following the recommendations of the local government committees committee in adopting a housing first approach. I want to record to our thanks to the members of the homelessness and rough sleeping action group for their hard work and leadership. Whatever else might be said in the debate, it is clear that there is a strong cross-party consensus to ending homelessness. The minister can be sure of our on-going support and principle for his efforts in this area. In my short time this afternoon, I want to focus on some missing pieces of the jigsaw in relation to the key drivers for homelessness. Part 2 of the ending homelessness together action plan sets out measures to prevent homelessness happening in the first place and contains a summary of the reasons for homelessness. Actions by the landlord and being asked to leave account for 36 per cent of homelessness applications. A violent or abusive dispute within the household accounts for 13 per cent, with domestic violence also being cited amongst the 22 per cent of other reasons. Preventing homelessness is about upholding the human right to housing and ensuring that people have legal security of tenure and that housing is affordable and habitable. Those are human rights. Since 1999, the number of tenants living in the private rented sector has tripled. That is because most tenants in the sector have no choice but to live in this most precarious and insecure type of housing. I am sure that many members will be aware from constituency case work of individuals and young families being pushed into the hands of homelessness services simply because they cannot afford rising rents. Here in Edinburgh, the average rent for a two-bedroom property is currently £1,033 per month. This week, the Scottish Government released figures for the private rented sector in Scotland from 2010 to 2018. In Lothian, average rents have increased above the rate of inflation for all property types. That means that one-bedroom and two-bedroom properties now cost tenants between 40 per cent and 42 per cent more to rent than they did eight years ago. Bear in mind that the UK consumer price index is risen by 18.7 per cent this period. It is evident that the cost of housing is rising significantly above the price of goods and services. I am happy to do so. Mike Rumbles I am concerned about the unintended consequences of Andy Wightman's amendment about the worry about taking accommodation out of the market altogether. To give you an example, the unintentional landlords—individuals who have their flat or house in negative equity and need to move to another part of the country—would let their flat out. If they cannot get access to that flat or accommodation, there is a danger that they will not put it on the market in the first place. Andy Wightman I will come to the specific point that the member was talking about. I think that we just disagree. I do not think that somebody's home should be taken from them because the owner wishes to sell it. I just do not agree with that. It is not just rent levels. Coming to the private housing tenancy Scotland act, it came into force, replacing nearly three decades of the shot-assured tenancies. One of the key provisions of the act was the removal of the no-fault grounds for reposition. We welcomed that, but the act also included 18 statutory grounds contained in schedule 3 of the act. A couple of years ago, I was advising constituents who live in Lawrence Street in Leith. They had been served with notices to quit because the landlord, the Agnes Hunter Trust, decided to sell their homes. Over 200 people faced being made homeless. A campaign ensued, and their properties have now been taken over by housing association. However, one might think that that kind of large-scale eviction will not be able to happen in future, but it can. Under the first ground in schedule 3, tenants can continue to be evicted because the landlord intends to sell the property. Consider this. Last year, during the local government and communities committee's inquiry into homelessness, as Graham Simpson mentioned, we hosted a session with a range of people who had experienced homelessness, including young care experienced people. It was a very moving and extremely informative session. One story sticks in my mind. Thomas, who sat next to me in the committee room, was a private rented sector tenant. He was made homeless because his landlord went bankrupt and the creditor seized his property. If he was a tenant facing similar circumstances in Denmark, Germany and Portugal, he would remain in his home. However, here in Scotland, he was thrown onto the streets and a decade-long cycle of trauma, rough sleeping and temporary accommodation. Had our modern tenancy legislation been in place, one might have thought that it would have protected Thomas, but it will not. Under the second ground in schedule 3, tenants can continue to be evicted because the property has been taken over by a creditor who wishes to sell with vacant possession. Consider this. I have been campaigning for over a year now to better regulate the rapidly growing short-term let sector, as a staggering number of dwellings have been converted to short-term let's as landlords seek to maximise revenues. As John Harris today writes in The Guardian, in too many cities, families live in temporary accommodation, while tourists live in homes. Constituents have contacted me after being served with notice to quit because the landlord wants to operate short-term let's. Again, one might think that a new private residential tenancy regime would protect a tenant against eviction, but it won't. Under the sixth ground in schedule 3, tenants can continue to be evicted where the landlord wishes to use the property for a purpose other than providing somewhere in the home. That is the reason why we have tabled an amendment tonight to review the statutory grounds for repossession. I commend Pauline McNeill for highlighting the other important driver of homelessness that I indicated in relation to domestic violence and the gendered nature of homelessness. Earlier this year, I met Joe Oscar from Scottish Women's Aid and Callum, home Chuck from the Chartered Institute, to discuss it. I welcome the wide recognition that that topic has engendered amongst the people who provided briefings to the debate. To conclude, Scotland can and should be a world leader in preventing homelessness, but that can only be achieved if we have an effective legislative base that ensures that everyone has a safe, warm place. Therefore, we are calling on the Scottish Government to review the current private rented sector law. I look forward to working with the Government if they agree and I move the amendment, my name. Alex Cole-Hamilton, six minutes please. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I start by referring members to my register of interests. I jointly own a flat for which the tenants receive housing benefit. It is a relationship that has existed between myself and the tenants for 10 years. In that time, I have come to know a lot of the housing benefit infrastructure and, indeed, many of the traps that exist supported them through several periods in which they narrowly avoided homelessness. I am very glad to call them my friends. Shelter provided us with an excellent briefing in advance of this afternoon's debate. Every 18 minutes, somebody reports as homeless. That is 30,000 households in Scotland. From my background, the tragedy of that is in the 15,000 children to whom that applies. We all see that in our surgeries in Edinburgh and other parts of the country where homelessness is a real problem. I can only speak to my experience of Edinburgh's housing shortage, but the experience of my constituents battling every Friday, bidding for houses on ed index and coming sometimes 40th despite having silver or even gold priority status. Having had that status for up to and over a year is just astonishing and shocking. There is a great deal of churn in terms of the housing offices to which they are attached. Indeed, while there is no shortage of empathy from a lot of those housing officers, there is dispassion as well and, indeed, heavy bureaucracy. When they find themselves in that situation, they often find themselves in temporary or emergency accommodation and to a substandard in many cases, which is often experiencing overcrowding, inappropriate family sharing and, indeed, protracted amounts of time. In many of these cases, it is those cases that fail to recognise the very specific needs of these families, particularly around disability or additional support needs, particularly around children with autism, that I find the system very dispassionate. I am grateful for the amendments today that reference domestic violence, because I think that we should treat very differently those women who are fleeing abusive, spousal relationships for whom housing is often used as a tool of coercive control in that abusive relationship. We have heard a lot also about the business end of homelessness in Scotland, and that is, of course, rough sleeping. It is a very different proposition in Scotland. You only need to look out of the window today and see what a lethal quality Scotland's weather has. Pauline McNeill is absolutely right to reference the 94 lives lost to us as a result of rough sleeping. That is a Dickensian statistic in 2018. What links all of those cases is trauma. Trauma is both causal and resultant from homelessness. You only need to look at the groups of people for whom homelessness is most prevalent, whether that is in those who are being liberated from our prisons, in Scottish veterans, those young people of care experience and, indeed, abuse survivors. I had a young veteran come to see me last week. He had been thrown out of his temporary accommodation because of a violent outburst, but that violent outburst was resultant from diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder that he obtained from his time in conflict. Happily, I was able to connect him with a veteran's charity that is providing him accommodation. However, for five nights, he had to sleep on a church hall floor, and there is something fundamentally broken in our system. Happily to Kezia Dugdale. I met a few homeless people in this city who would sooner sleep rough than live in some of the high-rise flats in the member's constituency. I wonder if he would comment on some of the properties in Murhouse and what he would say to the Government about what was needed to bring them up to standard. Alex Cole-Hamilton I am very grateful to the member for the intervention that I was coming on to Murhouse, because I recently toured one of the high-rise tenements in Murhouse in my constituency. It is, frankly, appalling. I left with a rasp in my throat and tears in my eyes from the black mould that a young mother and her child are forced to endure. We are working with Edinburgh City Council. My colleagues in Edinburgh City Council took a motion to the council to have an urgent review of the housing stock that we provided to people in Murhouse, which was rebuffed by the city's administration. We are persevering in that regard. However, there is a co-morbidity of need that comes with homelessness. Homeless is not just something that happens in isolation. 47 per cent of people have underlying health or mental health problems. It is linked to addiction and other forms of social poorer outcomes. For young people in particular, I spent some time working in the children's sector, and Scotland has only refuge for young runaways. One in nine young people will run away at some point in their lives from home, by which I mean being absent without knowledge of where they are for 24 hours or most. Most are sofa-surfing, some are sleeping rough. One quarter of all of them will experience some form of abuse, whether that is physical, sexual or financial abuse while they are running. It is a terrible statistic and one that we have still not fully addressed. I want to say a word about stigma as well, because with homelessness and not having the confidence and security of a stable home of your own comes stigma. George Orwell in his book Down and Out in Paris in London describes stigma when he said, "'Dirt is a great respecter of persons. It lets you alone when you are well dressed, but as soon as your collar is gone it flies towards you from all directions.'" With that stigma comes mental ill health feelings or the lack of self-worth. That compounds all the problems associated with homelessness and gets your feet back under them. We all have a duty to consider our fellow Scots who tonight and many other nights from now will face this winter in danger and in the dark, not just on the icy streets of our towns and cities, but in the housing departments and the offices where people have to present every day to find out what emergency accommodation may be available to them. I am grateful to the Scottish Government for the work that it is doing in this area. We strip out our parties and viewpoints here, because we have to come together to resolve the issue. It is much bigger than any one of us or any party in this chamber, and I thank them for their efforts in that regard. We move to the open debate. Speeches of six minutes, please. Gillian Martin, followed by Oliver Mundell. In my constituency of Aberdeenshire East, homelessness may not be considered obvious affluent part of the country after all. In some ways, the north-east is a tale of two cities, if I could, where there is much wealth but there are also pockets of insidious rural poverty. The long-term trend across Scotland has shown a decrease in applications since 2008, and I commend the hard work of efforts in the Scottish Government to tackle this issue and make it a priority. No one should have to live in the streets and should have the right to safe, warm accommodation—a place that we call home. Unfortunately, recently, Aberdeenshire has seen a rise in applications, despite the overall long-term decline in applications. In my constituency, the roll-out of universal credit began just last month, so it is too early to tell what the impact of this policy will be. However, given the devastating impact that the policy has already had in other parts of the country and listening to what Shona Robison has just said about Dundee, it is fair to say that I am worried. Other areas that had an earlier roll-out have seen an increase in rent of years, and, as we know, that can often lead to homelessness. There are many reasons why some may end up facing homelessness, and we know from figures released by Shelter that single men are most at risk, followed by single parent females. Who would have thought that, 52 years after Ken Loach's Cathy Come home film took the issue into the living rooms of the nation and shocked the nation that we would still be battling the causes of homelessness? Factors can range from domestic abuse, release from prison, relationship breakdowns, family conflict and financial issues and debt. I recently had a case with a woman and her children in veterans accommodation in Inveruri, where in real danger had been made homeless because her ex-army husband left the family home to pursue an extra-marital relationship. It was his service that entitled the family to their house, the house that they lived in for years. In Aberdeinshire, there is a dedicated team of housing officers to assess and provide low-level housing support to assist in better tenancy, sustainment and prevention of homelessness. I want to put on record my thanks to Aberdeinshire Council in that department for their quick response and the way that they worked together with the Scottish Veterans Garden City Association, who owned that housing, to ensure that not only did they have a new home to go to, but the Veterans Association extended the leaving date to allow them not to have a period when they had to go into a temporary accommodation. I thank them both very much for that. Last year, a total of 1,270 referrals were made into housings for support in Aberdeinshire. The number of applications under the homeless person's legislation has risen in Aberdein city and Aberdeinshire in the past year. One of the critical issues for housing support staff is ensuring that adequate support is given to those with complex needs. It is essential that services continue to work together to achieve better outcomes and meet the needs of those individuals. One of the ways in which it has been met is through the pit stop service, which is run by Turning Point Scotland in Aberdeinshire. That service provides 24-hour support within temporary accommodation to single people with substance misuse issues and who are homeless or at the risk of becoming homeless. The service aims to equip residents with the tools to live independently by helping them to gain the life skills, confidence and resilience needed to live independently. In Aberdeinshire, supported accommodation is also operated within a facility for six young people with support needs, as well as commissioning places of supported accommodation specifically for young people. I have a friend of mine who was leaving foster care. He was in foster care quite late on. The family moved and he did not want to move, but he did not really have the life skills to equip him. They were worried about him being homeless. They were all worried about him being homeless. He had quite a traumatic childhood. He is now working as a chef because there was that partnership relationship. It was not just about the home, but the fact that they wanted to get him into education and get him the skills to work. We know that in Aberdeinshire, one of the other challenges is that people who might have lived their entire life in that part of the north-east want to be re-homed in that area. It is not always possible. Often, the only available housing is elsewhere—for example, in the city—and they might refuse that, or if they accept that, it can lead to isolation as people are taken away from their communities and the relationships that they have locally. I am hopeful that the development of the affordable homes for rent, some of which I have visited with the minister, will mean that this is less of a situation that happens so often and that people can stay where they are free. Over the past three years, I have also had constituents coming to me worried about making the next mortgage payment after being let go from their oil and gas job, with no notice. They will be in at their desk at 8 am on a Friday and out in the car park with their belongings and no job by 8.20. Or, they are told that they have no job over the phone, like my friend Neil, who has worked for the same production company for over 30 years, and that the phone call happened to happen on his 50th birthday to add insult to injury. Or, the chap that came in for help from me, who had to access food banks to feed himself after the year without pay following years as an offshore medic. Or, the family last year, who gave a whole trolley of shopping in last year's collection for the Inverury food bank because, as they told me because the year before, they had been in temporary accommodation and they had to access food banks themselves. They both lost their jobs at the same time and now they were back on their feet. I have asked the oil and gas authority for a commitment that they look into employment practices of their members, as that just cannot stand in the future. We cannot have this situation again. It is important to remind ourselves that the better a need for services comes as pressures on food banks increase and the number of people struggling with rent arrears or mortgage arrears is on the rise. As is often mentioned in the chamber, we all could be two packets, pay packets away from destitution, and those working in precarious employment live on that knife edge every day. The Scottish Government is clearly committed to ending homelessness and rough sleeping for good, but women's also tackle its source that other causes for homelessness for which the Scottish Government does not have the power, such as employment law, pensions and employment benefits support. We miss out on that part of the equation and Cathy Come home will always be as relevant to that today as it was in the 1960s. Before we move on, I think that there are a couple of members who have said that they intend to speak who have not pressed their request to speak buttons, if you could check please. Thank you, Ms Robson. We now have Oliver Mundell to be followed by Emma Harper. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in this important debate today. As other speakers have already said, how we help those most in need is a measure of our society's values. When it comes to ending homelessness, I believe that the people of Scotland are watching and looking to us all to work together to end this crisis. In what is a rich and developed country, there is absolutely no excuse for not tackling homelessness. It is unavoidable, I scourge on our society, and while it is possible to find the finger of blame here, there and everywhere, it does not move the situation forward. We all know what needs to be done and there are some encouraging early signs of progress, but we need to move faster because every day of delay in action and every day where the right support is not in place is another day lost for individuals and families who face the huge challenge that not having shelter or suitable accommodation brings. That cannot be tolerated and it cannot be accepted. I know from my constituency mail bag and from surgeries how challenging the issue is. It is often easy to think of homelessness as something that happens in big cities and urban areas. However, there is a huge problem with what many-term hidden homelessness in rural communities. There are many families living in unsuitable temporary accommodation and couch surfing. I have to say very sadly that I have even heard of individuals asking to bunk down in agricultural buildings for want of somewhere warm and safe to stay. It is not good enough, and I remain very concerned by families living long-term in being accommodation without access to things like washing machines or facilities to cook hot meals. Ultimately, they feel very little security, even though I accept that, in crisis situations, it is better than nothing, but it falls short of what is acceptable. More needs to be done to improve the quality of housing stock, and I have written to the minister many times about that. There are a number of housing associations that do not live up to the high standards that we expect of them, and they do not always deliver. Mr Mundell has written to me on a number of occasions. I would appreciate any member who has a concern about the suitability of social housing, whether that be council or housing association, to let us know. I urge members to look at the discussion around beyond 2021. It is important for all of us to get housing associations, councils, ourselves and individuals to give us their vision of what they want to see beyond this current Parliament. It is incumbent on all of us to listen to those views. I very much support that approach. I welcome the minister's personal help and intervention in a number of cases. I know how much focus he puts into some of those issues. For me, part of the picture is about ensuring that people know their housing rights. I think that there are a lot of people living in social housing who do not understand the responsibilities that are on their landlords, and I think that there is more that we can do to support that. That, in part, along with the other issues that I have just mentioned, is why I was so pleased to see representatives of Shelter Scotland in Dumfries High Street a few weeks ago, highlighting the important work and support that many in the third sector provide in that respect. On top of those issues, I am also very concerned about the number of people sleeping rough. I remember during my own time here in Edinburgh as a student helping out in the grass market soup kitchen. We are now a number of years on and that facility has had a makeover, but we are still no closer to solving the problem. I find it very sad personally, driving home from the Parliament past the Salvation Army Hostel, who are just a matter of metres away, regularly seeing people queue up to secure a room for the night. It is something that we cannot ignore. There are a number of charities who are carrying the burden for our collective failure to put the most basic rights in place for our citizens. Although I agree with our front-bench and party policy that housing supply is very important, and I fully support the housing first initiative, I think that some of the questions are about more than capacity and more than housing and making sure that people have the support in place to help them to identify housing, because I think that for a number of people who are in crisis, who are going back to homeless shelters night after night, they have some very immediate issues that need addressed. I very much welcome the approach that has been taken today and the reassurances from the Government that it is going to act on some of the priorities that we have outlined. On those benches, I stand ready not just to try and hold the Government to account, but also to support the very considerable efforts and early actions that are under way. Emma Harper, followed by Kezia Dugdale. I am pleased to be able to speak in this afternoon's debate, ending homelessness together, and I welcome the new measures announced by the Scottish Government to help eradicate the human rights issue of homelessness. Everyone in Scotland, regardless of their race, religion, background, gender and social circumstance, absolutely must have a safe, warm and settled place that they call home. Indeed, anyone who made homelessness is legally entitled to housing, and I am glad to hear that there is cross-party consensus across the chamber this afternoon that we are going to tackle homelessness together. Although I recognise that more work has to be done to ensure that all who are presented as homeless are housed at the earliest possible time, so that is a key issue that we need to pursue. Last week, I attended a meeting in my South Scotland region with Dumfries and Galloway Council's financial wellbeing and revenues manager, and I was told by her that, in 2017 and 2018, 834 homeless applications were received by D&G Council, and 76.7 per cent were from single person with no children households. 18 per cent of the applications had children in the households, though. Nationally, we have seen a 9 per cent rise in the number of children in temporary accommodation, and that is concerning. 29.5 per cent of the D&G applications were from people with mental health needs, and 6 per cent, which is 50 people, said that they had slept rough the night before their application was submitted. It is also worth noting that, currently, the law requires local authorities to take a homeless application for someone's immediate threat of homelessness within the next three months. That means that not all cases when an application is taken will need emergency or temporary accommodation, such as in a B&B. As a B&B owner myself, where my husband runs our business currently, we have had people show up at 12 o'clock at night, people like young men, young women, families and young children. You can see the stress or the anxiety on their faces as they are showing up at midnight. B&B is not ideal. The accommodation is variable, and Graham Simpson has rightly highlighted that there are issues such as curfews or visiting by families and other restrictions. However, I will let the chamber know that there are no curfews or restrictions and even access to washing machines and kitchen was available in our B&B. As a stock transfer authority, Dumfries and Galloway Council relies on registered social landlords to find permanent accommodation for those who present themselves as homeless. That means that it can be quite challenging. I am pleased that the Government has engaged in the house building of affordable housing with over 78,000 affordable homes built since the SNP came to power. Furthermore, the Government is helping to assist local authorities across Scotland, including Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire Council in my South Scotland region, by investing more than £3 billion to deliver an additional minimum of 35,000 homes. That will better allow local authorities to house those who are presented as homeless as soon as possible and will reduce the need for temporary B&B accommodation. I would like to briefly highlight some of the work of Lorburn housing in my region. Like many housing associations, the last thing that Lorburn wants is to make someone homeless. As an organisation, they focus on the customer at the heart of allocations and tenancy management. Lorburn ensures that properties are allocated appropriately for both the incoming customer and customers who are already housed at a development. They do not want to set people up to fail, so they will consider people's circumstances and any issues before allocating a property. Lorburn assists people with a wide range of support measures, some of which include getting furniture, carpets or white goods for the property, through the person's own initiative or through the Scottish Government's Scottish Welfare Fund. Through the new great start initiative in partnership with Shacks in Dumfries, Lorburn provides customers with a voucher to spend on items for their property. That supports the customer as well as other local charities. They assist with starting, changing and maintaining a universal credit claim. Like my colleagues Gillian Martin and Shona Robison, my casework in my office also echoes the challenges of universal credit and how it has led to some people becoming homeless. The Lorburn housing has been extremely helpful in my casework in supporting me with lazing and challenging for people who are having real difficulty with making their rent and allowing the forgiving of rent a rear. All of the challenges that we see that our local authorities and our Lorburn housing are doing, we need to make sure that other authorities will take the lead from that. I would like to quickly give recognition to Bethany Christian Trust also because they carry out important work in supporting people affected by homelessness. I welcome the Scottish Government's £50 million investment in ending homelessness together fund that aims to put an end to rough sleeping while funding homelessness prevention initiatives. £23.5 million has already been allocated from the ending homelessness fund and from the health portfolio for rapid rehousing first. I welcome the positive work that has been proposed and carried out by the Scottish Government and other third sector bodies. I congratulate organisations across my south Scotland region and I agree that we all must work together to end homelessness. I welcome the chance to speak in this debate. It is a laudable report, there is no doubt about that and the recommendations that are in it are admirable. However, based on what I see in this city, much of it—I have to say this to the cabinet secretary and to the minister—is utterly fanciful. I want to talk today very specifically about the real experience of my constituents in this city, who are homeless right now. One of them came to my constituency surgery back in April. He was living in temporary accommodation with his baby. He is a recovering addict. He has been clean for nine years.  He has been living in this hostel for two months before he came to see me at my constituency surgery. He only came to my surgery because he has had no hot water for three days. The one microwave that he shared with 89 other residents in that hostel was broken. Imagine trying to feed a baby with no hot water and one microwave between 90 residents in this city in 2018. That is happening now. The room was filthy, the bed was infested with mites. When my office checked with him this morning to ask if it was okay that I could share his experiences with the chamber, he asked me to tell you that he had slept in cleaner crack in heroin dens than he had hostels and bee and bees in this city. I got him out of that hostel and into a flat in Lochendon, a private rented sector flat, one that he could barely afford. That somehow considered a success story that he is no longer in that temporary hostel. He is in a flat that he will no longer be able to afford in two or three months' time. I thought that his story was a one-off. Until I read the ferret report this week, which told us about the situation in Edinburgh, that 600 families had been in temporary hostels or bee and bee accommodation in the past year—466 of them—for more than a week. My constituent with that baby was in a hostel for two months. They were breaking the law 466 times in that last year, but when you look at the detail of the law, they were not actually breaking it because there is an exemption. An exemption is that you can be placed in that accommodation if there is nothing else suitable. There is not anything else suitable in this city. We are so far short of having the accommodation that we need for so many families like him. I hope that the cabinet secretary can see just how angry I am at the idea that we have to wait until 2023 to get better standards for temporary accommodation in this city. I could write those standards right now—a clean room, a kettle in the room, access to kitchen facilities for six people or less. Why does it have to take five years to have a set of minimum standards for people like that? I have another constituent who has been sleeping rough for several weeks now. The council would not give him a place in a hostel because he said that he had a tendency that he was intentionally homeless. He did have a flat, but the last time he was in that flat, he was beaten within an inch of his life and he cannot go back there. I have never met this constituent. I have received all this information from a member of the public who cared enough to sit down on the street and ask him why he was sleeping there that night. That person then advocated on his behalf to me at my surgery. She sent me flowers yesterday because I had managed to get that person into a new settled flat. I should be thanking her for speaking up on his behalf, for advocating for him when he had no voice. Let's talk about advocates for a second. Before I got elected, I was an advocate for four people in the city with multiple and complex needs. I was their advocate because their support packages were being cut. I spent years trying to convince the Edinburgh City Council that, if they took away their care hours, those people relied on not-care support to hold down their tenancy, they were going to end up back in the police cell, back in the justice system or in an A and E ward.  I found that out from the local unite branch of care workers here in the city, who have just done an FOI into the number of people who are reliant on care packages in the city and still do not have it. They told me that the people in Edinburgh right now who receive a care package are 6,906 unmet hours. That support that they have been told that they need and that they cannot get because there are not enough care workers. There are a further 850 people in the city who have been identified as needing a care package, who are currently waiting for one. It has not even started yet. There are hundreds and hundreds more people waiting to be assessed for a package that they can only dream of ever receiving. Yes, minister, that report is laudable, but there is nowhere near enough resource to back it up. We have a housing crisis in this city, we have a social care crisis in the city and every time you cut council budgets, you make it worse. Just yesterday, universal credit rolled out into Edinburgh. That is going to compound the problems that already exist, and I am angry at the Tories for that. Of course I am and I will fight that to the bitter end, but they are not solely responsible for it. I am talking to you about eight years' worth of experience that I have in this city of supporting homeless people at the state of temporary accommodation that my council taxes pay for to keep landlords rich and the poorest people in the most destitute situations. Please do not make me wait five years before we improve that temporary accommodation. In your summing-up speeches tonight, please tell me that you will do something before 2023 about that at the very least. Shona Robison, followed by Alexander Stewart. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am pleased to be able to take part in this debate. I want to begin by acknowledging the work of the homelessness and rough sleeping action group in developing a report informed by evidence and experiences from across Scotland on how we can continue moving forward to stop homelessness and ensure appropriate housing for all. Based on the recommendations in that report, the Scottish Government has put together a strong response in my view in the ending homelessness together action plan. I look forward to seeing that plan implemented by the Scottish Government and reviewing the evaluation done by the homelessness prevention and strategy group to ensure that those plans stay on track. Over the last 10 years, the Scottish Government has demonstrated a commitment to ending homelessness, with more than £78,000 affordable homes made available—more than £3 billion—to help reach the target of 50,000 new affordable homes by 2021, and £50 million going to the ending homelessness together fund. Now, over the long term, we are seeing a reduction in homelessness applications, which is a good thing, but we are all aware that we have to work hard to continue that trend. Graham Simpson, earlier in his contribution, talked about his concern about the rise in homelessness over the past year. Surely he must acknowledge that that has not been assisted in any way by the UK Government welfare policies, which I think is responsible for last year's small rise in homelessness applications. He has acknowledged that many Scots have been hard-hit by universal credit, with benefit-cut sanctions and long-waiting periods. All make it hard for people to get by putting pressure on many to balance housing costs with other necessities, especially in the five-week period before they receive universal credit. Many people are forced into debt and relying on food banks. In Dundee, my constituents on universal credit owe an average of £200 in rent arrears more than those on other benefits, which will have a direct impact on homelessness. I agree when Graham Simpson says that tackling homelessness is complex, but accepting that universal credit is a contributing factor is actually quite a simple thing. I think that it would do Graham Simpson and others on the Tory benches good to at least acknowledge that in their contributions. As I understand, at job centres, people are being told to look everywhere and to ask everyone they can to find loans before they receive help when their budgets are tight. This year alone, as we know, the Scottish Government will spend £125 million to mitigate the effects of benefit cuts from the UK Government. Those are resources coming from other budgets. Like many in this chamber, I have called for the UK Government to halt the roll-out of universal credit before we see people on working tax credits put into the already failing system. I would like to see welfare powers devolved here, but we have to listen to the overwhelming evidence that this failed system is pushing people out of their homes, into the houses of friends, into hostels or onto the streets. One of the biggest issues that affect women on universal credit is the lack of split payments. I know that the Scottish Government is planning on pursuing split payments as part of a Scottish option, and I look forward to participating in the Scottish Government's consultation on how to implement split payments. Right now, the UK Government is responsible for split payments. For those in abusive relationships, sending all of their benefits, including their housing benefits, to one bank account can facilitate financial abuse. The UK Government has touted split payments in special circumstances as a viable alternative that could be implemented if someone is in an abusive relationship. However, new DWP statistics show us that not a single person in Scotland has received split payments. At the same time, domestic violence was the biggest reason that women gave for making a housing application in Scotland. That is a disgrace. Oliver Mundell, I thank the member for giving way, but does she not recognise the work that could be done right now to ensure that those who experience domestic violence receive priority treatment when it comes to the allocation of housing and support? Of course those who are affected by domestic violence should receive priority treatment, but surely the member cannot get away from the fact that a policy from his Government is exacerbating the situation for women in that position, so he should join with us in making sure that that is tackled. That is something that the UK Government could do now. I would say again that, if he is serious about this issue, he should join with those of us who want to see that address. Universal credit is harming women who are in that position, and he would do well to acknowledge that. As we move forward to prevent and stop homelessness, we have to address the issue with the understanding that everyone's experience of homelessness is different and that already vulnerable people are more prone to homelessness and need targeted support. I want to pay tribute to Scottish Women's Aid and the work that it has done. I know that third sector organisations have been essential supports to people who are facing homelessness. Shelter Scotland is turning 50 this year, and I recently met them in Dundee to discuss issues that are still remaining on their 50th anniversary. By providing advice and support, they help thousands of people across Scotland every year. That demonstrates how organisations in the third sector have contributed to the fight to stop homelessness. However, I know their hope that eventually there will be no reason for them to have to continue to fight homelessness, because it will no longer be an issue. I hope so, too. What the Scottish Government has set out is a plan that will help towards that goal. There is more to be done by acknowledging and planning to address problems. We can start to work towards that better future, where everyone has a safe, affordable home. Alexander Stewart, followed by Kenneth Gibson. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This is a vitally important debate today, as many contributions have already given their background and their knowledge and their skill base as to how it is affecting their constituents and their regions. People have become homeless for many different reasons, and we have heard that today. Some people leave because they are forced out of their home, others may have a dispute circumstance taking place, others seek refuge because they are fleeing from domestic violence. However, what is apparent is that they are no longer able to live in that safe and environment home that they have. Although homeless people are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds, it is important to note that, under half sight, they have support needs. We can see that some individuals have mental health problems, some have learning disabilities and some have drug and alcohol dependency. They are in a complex situation.  The local government committee saw that very much when we were going through the report. We had the opportunity to meet some of those individuals. They were very frank and very honest about why they got into the situation that they did, and they were looking for support and help. I have to pay tribute to the organisations and charities that are doing that immense work on a day-to-day basis to ensure that they get the support that they need. As I say, Government has a role to play, but without those charities, many more of those individuals would fall through the net. We are here today to look at and talk about the personalised and person-centred approach, which is the right way to tackle homelessness. It is important that we look at each individual. Indeed, it is one of the key elements that the Scottish Government is talking about when it is talking about its homeless strategy and how it wants to ensure that ending homelessness is together. I am a real advocate of that. I think that that is exactly what we need to do, but we have already heard from people that more needs to be done. As was already mentioned, as I say, the committee has sat and I commend the report that we put forward from the committee. It gave us an opportunity to see first-hand what was going on and, as I said, that report gives us an opportunity to build on it. In fact, the themes from that basis approach are very much what we are looking at. I can reflect and go back to my time as a councillor on person and can-ros council when we introduced the Home First initiative. That was back in 2015, which was part of our transformation strategy. We looked at the programme to ensure that direct route for homeless people into settled accommodation, reducing the need for temporary accommodation. That was a real success and continues to be a success, because it has been seen as challenging, tackling and making a difference. There are many benefits from that approach. It minimises the length, the effect and the stigma, as well as the financial impact on homelessness. At the same time, it delivers better outcomes for individuals, and that is what we should be looking at, delivering the outcomes for individuals. The results of that are quite staggering. The Scottish Government has seen that that is the case, and charities have also taken that on board. I can look at statistics from my own patch, the length of individuals who are waiting in temporary accommodation. Some people are 132 days. That has dropped in person and can-ros down to under 80 days. That is still not a good situation, but it has improved, and it continues to improve. When we look at the wait for people presenting themselves who were offered accommodation, it has dropped dramatically. People are waiting 441 days to get accommodation. That is unbelievable. What are the situation circumstances? We have already heard from members this afternoon about families, young people and individuals and children. How can they sit in that situation? That has reduced down to 90 days, but, as I said once again, there is still a long way to go. I very much welcome the fact that there is to be a rapid re-housing transformation plan. That is the right way to go. The guidance and the development of those plans very much builds on the principles that we want to see and that are successful. I saw in person and can-ros in the home first model. We in the Scottish Conservatives see the reducing amount of time that homeless individuals spend in temporary accommodation as a major priority and as a measure that requires to be tackled. Although the role of authorities is crucial, we also have to talk about how things supply. There is a lot to be talked about when we look at the pledges that individuals and organisations have, and what the Government put forward in manifestos when it talked about building new social-rented homes. That is alloddable, but it was not achieved under the 2011 manifesto. It talked about 30,000 and only 20 Tuva Bill. If we continue as we are at the moment, there will be 10,000 shots of 50,000 in the current manifesto, so our work requires to be managed and work requires to be done. The Ending of Homeless Together plan talks about in the report one of the most powerful tools of providing and preventing homelessness across our population is to ensure a strong supply of affordable housing. That is one of the main cruxes that we need to ensure that we have. The Scottish Government requires to do that and to do more. What we have seen is the right direction. I conclude in saying that it is heartening to see the broad-cross consensus across the chamber today when we are talking about homelessness, because we have all seen it and identified it. We in the Scottish Conservatives will play our part to ensure that the Scottish Government is accountable, but it also has the opportunity to progress, because that is the right way to tackle it. We welcome the plan because that plan gives opportunity, support and a real link to what is taking place. However, we still have a long way to go. I hope that today we can start that journey in a much stronger vein. I am pleased to participate in the debate and welcome the Government's action plan. I want to share the perspective that I gained during the local government and communities committee's year-long inquiry into the causes of and long-term solutions to homelessness in Scotland. Since 2007, we have made significant strides towards eliminating homelessness in Scotland, with the number of people who have assessed that homelessness falling by 6,690 between 2007-08 and 2017-18. That is thanks to a proactive approach to housing that is undertaken by the Government, which included ending the right to buy, delivering more than 78,000 affordable homes and, in this parliamentary term alone, investing more than £3 billion to deliver at least 50,000 new homes, including 35,000 for social rent. However, we know that homelessness assessments offer only a narrow perspective of reality for many Scottish families, and that measure does not illustrate the extent to which people are living in temporary, inadequate or precarious housing. We also know that inadequate supply of housing alone cannot solve the complex health and social factors that lead to so many vulnerable people ending up on our streets. That is why the committee's work included hearing from people with lived experience of homelessness, those working in front-line services and local and national policymakers who focus on addressing this complex issue. Those stories shared with Canada and Courage demonstrated that homelessness can arise from a wide range of issues ranging from relationship breakdowns to substance misuse, mental health issues, childhood trauma, as well as more recently and most sadly Westminster welfare reform. Although the Government's approach has produced declines in homelessness applications, there are still local authorities where applications have increased. Therefore, our report recommended ways to improve and expand the current housing options approach to deliver sustainable reductions. I am pleased to note that the Government's plan responds to many of the conclusions reached in the report, which, when implemented, will show Scotland as a leader in ending homelessness. The evidence that we heard clearly made the case for a more collaborative approach between the wide range of organisations that are already performing outstanding work to help to end homelessness. A concerted whole-system approach is key. From street work in Edinburgh, which offers access to immediate support and immediate advice, as well as outreach services, to the Simon community in Glasgow offering emergency and temporary accommodation, and to the 24-7 helpline support to the legal services in Glasgow to church's action for the homeless in Perth. All the committee's visits conveyed that there is indeed the will and ability to end homelessness in Scotland, provided that we have the right policy framework in place to support those services. As part of our work programme, the committee also travelled to Finland, as Graham Simpson mentioned, where we saw first-hand how the housing first approach is delivering long-term sustainable reductions in homelessness. That approach not only provides housing, it also addresses other issues that can lead to homelessness, including the need for medical and psychological support, and was therefore included as a key recommendation in our report. When we accept that housing first alone cannot end homelessness, it will lay the groundwork for a successful person-centred approach to tackling it. As we are in the midst of the United Nations 16 days of activism against gender-based violence campaign, I believe that it is important to highlight Scottish women's aids written evidence to the local government committee. Their contribution argued that gender-based violence is a major cause of homelessness in Scotland, citing the fact that, of the 34,662 homelessness applications that were made in 2015-16, a dispute within household violent and abusive was the reason given by 4,135 applicants—some 13 per cent, as Shona Robison pointed out. Researchers highlighted that those figures may significantly underestimate the scale of the problem, as women do not often disclose that they are experiencing domestic abuse when making a homeless application. Domestic abuse is also closely linked with repeat homelessness and families that experience domestic abuse are four times more likely to lose their homes due to arrears. Details such as that reinforce to the committee just how complex and multifaceted the causes of homelessness can be and underline the need for a person-centred approach that meets the individual needs of each vulnerable person. I am heartened that that plan responds both to the themes and recommendations that are raised by the committee's report. There was a strong connection between the committee's conclusions and the recommendations made by the homelessness and rough sleeping action group. That provided a strong evidence base on which the high-level action plan has been developed. With a significant shift towards the housing first model that was exploded by the committee, that plan will help to provide settled housing as a first response to people with multiple needs, and I look forward to local authorities agreeing their rapid rehousing transition plans by the end of this year. Just as the committee's report was built around the experiences of people who have been homeless, the plan sets out a person-centred approach to improved lived experiences. To respond to the highlighted need for accessible and clear information of homeless people, next year the Scottish Government will work with local authorities to make homelessness assessments more flexible and develop plans to make it as easy as possible for people to access their right to assistance. With regard to preventative action, the Government will develop pathways for groups at highest risk of rough sleeping homelessness, such as sustainable housing on release for everyone standards for people leaving prison, which has already been designed. I am pleased that the plan makes specific reference to the particular needs of women and children fleeing domestic abuse. I hope that that will go some way towards mitigating the desperately sad situation that is outlined by Scottish Women's Aid in their written submission. In the face of an issue that is multifaceted and complex as homelessness, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and disheartened by the challenges that it presents, but the Government is not complacent in the face of such difficulties. I am sure that it is heartened by the cross-party support for much of what it is doing and taking forward. I believe that the plan has the potential to transform our response to homelessness and improve the lives of thousands of the most vulnerable people in our society. I hope that colleagues across the chamber will join me in supporting the plan today and ensuring that it delivers in the years and months ahead. Presiding Officer, as one of the very few members here since 1999, whether I like it or not, I am part of this Parliament's institutional memory. I feel a certain responsibility to remind members of the past, in particular as the minister responsible for this policy area in the first Labour-Scottish Government. Let me take you back almost 20 years, because I think that it is instructive to do so. I do so on the basis, as the politician once said, that if you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it. Homelessness and rough sleeping were both issues that the Parliament engaged with early on in its lifetime and where substantial progress was made in both legislative and resource terms. That mattered to the then Labour-Lib Dem coalition Government and, to be frank, it mattered to Parliament as a whole, irrespective of party. At its most extreme, you can see the visible manifestation of homelessness on our streets, with rough sleepers not just across our cities but in our towns too. Too many people were sofa surfing and the level of homeless applications was far too high. That spoke to a breakdown in the housing system, never mind a breakdown in society, with often the most vulnerable people suffering disproportionately. You could say exactly the same thing about the situation today. Action today, as it was then, is essential and it needs to be swift. There was a commitment to end rough sleeping by 2003, backed by £63 million in resources. I cannot help but contrast that with the £50 million announced by the Scottish Government in their ending homelessness together fund, which is not just for rough sleeping. A homelessness task force was established, bringing in those with expertise across the voluntary sector and local government to make sure that we got it right. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Groundbreaking legislation was backed by the Parliament in both the Housing Scotland Act 2001 and the Homelessness Scotland Act of 2003. Significant resources were allocated to implement a suite of recommendations, but when the SNP removed ring fencing and rolled the money up into the general settlement, there were cuts, especially in the past few years when local government funding has been cut by the SNP. I very much welcome the work of the homelessness and prevention group, but let me say this to you. When you consider its report, alongside that of the homelessness task force some 16 years earlier, they are remarkably similar. The same set of challenges remain, the need for prevention, tackling the root cause of homelessness, the need to tackle the problems of those in transition, leaving prison, the forces or care, not having settled accommodation to go to, mental health problems, physical health problems, addictions. The more I read, the more it echoes the past. Limiting the use of temporary accommodation featured then, it still features now. Shelter has campaigned for minimum standards for temporary accommodation since 2011, but the SNP wants us to wait until 2023. In the intervening 16 years, homelessness and rough sleeping both fell initially. There were fewer rough sleepers on our streets. There was adequate emergency accommodation. Temporary accommodation became available to reduce and all but eliminate the use of bed and breakfasts. Priority need, intentionality and local connection were all legislated for. That was nothing short of a revolution in how we tackled homelessness in this country. At some point, the eye was taken off the ball. Homelessness is unfortunately now rising. So too is rough sleeping. No, I think that you should listen. It was not a political priority anymore. In fact, look closely. There is one mention of homelessness in the SNP's 2007 manifesto. There is nothing at all in their 2011 manifesto, not one single solitary word on the subject. In that time, the SNP Government stopped funding homeless charities to help the many Scots that end up homeless on the streets of London. In 2014, the Infrastructure Committee rightly warned the Government about the inappropriate use of housing options as gatekeeping, but it took a further two years for guidance to emerge. In 2015, the SNP Government repeatedly refused to do rough sleeping counts to evidence the growing problem, and we asked them time and time again. It is only when there is a massive public outcry and media attention that something gets done. The reason I bring this up is that I do not want to be back here in 20 years' time debating the same thing all over again. If we think that this is important for individuals who are homeless now and for those who may find themselves homeless in the future, then we need to find solutions and stick to them. The cabinet secretary says that this is groundbreaking. Sorry, but it was groundbreaking before. You cannot adopt a year zero approach and have no responsibility for your actions over the last decade. The Government of the day of whatever complexion needs to commit to delivering on this agenda. We need resources, we need an action plan, we need targets and Parliament needs to hold their feet to the fire. We know what the problems are, we know what we need to do and those in the voluntary sector need to and do constantly remind us of that, but the Scottish Government has taken its eye off the ball. We cannot let that happen again. If you had one eye out of the passion demonstrated by Kezia Dugdale this afternoon, I might have more confidence in what you are proposing. Action plan, published on Tuesday, points to the Government's commitment and ambitions to eradicate homelessness in all its forms. On the same day in the chamber, the Government acknowledged 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. Today, we all wear our white ribbons in solidarity with the white ribbon campaign, a campaign to end men's violence towards women. Women's experiences of homelessness are unique. As a homelessness and rough sleeping action group recommendations note, groups with particular needs such as women who have experienced domestic violence are at particular risk of homelessness. As a former member of the Parliament's local government and communities committee, I would therefore like to reflect today on our inquiry into homelessness. In written evidence to the committee, Scottish Women's Aid confirmed that domestic abuse continues to be a major cause of homelessness in Scotland. In 2015-16, 4,135 homelessness applicants applied under a dispute within household, violent or abusive, as a reason for the application. 72 per cent of applications were made by women and women with children making up 36 per cent of applicants. A 2010 Government review of domestic abuse, housing and homelessness policy and research stated that the prevention or cessation of domestic abuse in a family context will almost always require the women to leave that home. Between 2013 and 2015, Scottish Women's Aid worked in my constituency alongside Fife's community research team in the production of the report Change Justice Fairness, which focused on women's experiences of homelessness when presenting to the local authority. 58 per cent of Fife council staff agreed that some women claim domestic abuse when they have not experienced it. That narrative, that idea of not being believed, weaves its way through the research report as women documented their experiences of presenting to the council. One individual was advised by Fife council to give up her tenancy because her abusive ex-partner had accrued substantial debt in her name. Women were asked if they felt that they had a choice about remaining in their home or moving out. 84 per cent said that they had none. I was glad to note in the Labour Party's amendment today a specific reference to the work that is being done by the Chartered Institute for Housing in this area.  I want to turn now to consider the root causes of homelessness and the local government committee's report. I note that Graham Simpson referred to our inquiry as a harrowing experience. However, I note that he did not make a single reference to the numerous representations that we received from third sector organisations in welfare reform. Let me now remind him what he told us. Shelter told the committee that the roll-out of welfare reform and universal credit was creating a complicated landscape to navigate and pushing people further into poverty. COSLA highlighted that universal credit was squeezing local authority budgets as they were having to mitigate the impact of welfare reform. In Fife, the council has had to set aside £200,000 to cover the roll-out of universal credit and has spent over £1 million on costs relating to it. Scottish Women's Aid told the committee that cuts to social security have had a grotesqually disproportionate impact on women. From 2010 to 2020, 86 per cent of net savings raised through cuts to social security and tax credits will come from women's incomes. Across the United Kingdom, the number of homeless families has risen by more than 60 per cent, and it is likely to have been driven by the United Kingdom Government's welfare reforms, according to a national audit office report that was published last year. Graham Simpson is absolutely right to say that there is a scandal, but perhaps the real scandal is that not a single Conservative MSP can admit to the damage that Tory welfare is causing homeless people in this country. There has been some debate recently as to the purpose of this institution. Mitigation was consistently revisited by the committee during our evidence sessions. On this point, the minister Kevin Stewart told the committee that the Scottish Government can mitigate a number of things. Bedouin tax mitigation costs £47 million a year, and we have talked a number of times today about using the Scottish welfare fund to ensure that 18 to 21-year-olds whose housing benefit is being withdrawn are still helped, and we have also put additional money into discretionary housing payments in recent times. However, we cannot mitigate every aspect of the cuts that are being made. That, for me, is the crux of this debate. The Scottish Government, irrespective of who holds political power in here, was never created to guard the people of Scotland against Tory austerity, and much as I enjoyed Jackie Baillie's history lesson earlier, mitigation is not one of our founding principles. The argument, advanced by Labour, is that whether to be an alternative government in Westminster would solve the problem. Asterity is ideologically driven, and without the Conservatives' power, those degrading welfare reforms would simply disappear. Our homeless population would be saved. Forgive me, because I do not, and I cannot, subscribe to this. We all heard Kezia Dugdale's palpable anger in her contribution, but just three short years ago, the Labour Party abstained on the welfare reform and work bill. The bill passed by a majority of 184, 184 Labour MPs abstained. I say to the Scottish Labour Party today that we can have a nice fluffy debate about discussing her terrible homelessness, we can all commit to do something about it and welcome the action plan, but until the full welfare powers are devolved to this Parliament and are put in the hands of the Scottish Government, we will never be able to tackle the root causes of homelessness. Integrity, compassion, wisdom, truth—they are the principles which should guide us all in our work in here. But perhaps I should leave the final word to one of the women who contributed to the report produced by Women's Aid. You're destroyed.  You can feel so down, so low, you wish the floorboards would open up and swallow you. It's so embarrassing, yeah.  It's just agony, agony, agony. So to the Labour Party and to the Conservatives, help us to stop this agony. Help your constituents. Back the full devolution of welfare powers to really help Scotland's homeless. Thank you. Thank you. I call Jeremy Balfour to be followed by Ruth McGwar, Mr Balfour, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the Government being in forward with this debate, and I think that it is very important. I also very much welcome the minister's wellness to accept the amendment in my colleague's name. I should start by also declaring that I am a director of a homelessness charity here in Edinburgh. I think that there is a real problem and Kezia Dugdale definitely hit the nail on the head in regard to her comments about short-term lets and BBs, particularly here in Edinburgh. However, I think that we do want to draw a distinction, and I would welcome the minister to clarify going forward his definition in regard to those BBs and hostels who have no support with them compared to those hostels and BBs that do have support, because I think that there is a real difference between the two. Here in Edinburgh and across central Scotland, there are many short-term BBs and accommodations that have support and give help to those who are there—crossroads, salvation armour, four square, gallery care, Bethany Christian Trust—or provide that here in Edinburgh and across other parts of Scotland. That comes with that short-term help, but it also comes with that advice, counselling advice and other support. I would be concerned that, with the minister's good intentions, those types of organisations and those types of short-term lets were wrapped up altogether, and we saw them go. We need to make a difference. The minister referenced the Heriot-Walt report, which came out earlier this week. It makes a very helpful comment in regard to distinguishing between different types of accommodation standards that we have across Scotland, and perhaps particularly here in Edinburgh. We want people to have professional help, whether it is short-term or long-term help that they require. I hope that, in any definition that comes forward in any new legislation, we can make sure that those groups are not affected. The other area that we need to highlight, and we need to be careful when we are going forward in regard to any new legislation, is that in regard to who are supporting short-term night support. For example, in Glasgow City Mission, here in Edinburgh, Bethany Christian Trust offer accommodation for one night or for several nights in church halls, where there is a mattress, there is a hot meal and, again, some professional support. I do not think that any of us want to have the type of need for accommodation, but we do not want to see them go because what would happen to those individuals. So, when we are drafting any new legislation, we have to make sure that there are proper exemptions and proper groups. I understand that, sadly, those night shelters are seeing an increase in numbers, not actually so far necessarily due to, as we have heard from welfare reform, but for lots of other reasons as well. We do need to make sure that those individuals are supported. I mean, it still disappoints me that Edinburgh Council gives no financial support to the night shelter. I do welcome that the Government has helped out in previous years in regard to that, and I hope that the minister can look at that again. Finally, can I turn to the amendment by the Greens? I mean, I think that, as was pointed out by Mike Rumbles, this will just have unforeseen circumstances if we support it. For example, if I am a person who perhaps mother or father dies with a house and I am not sure what to do with it, I may want to let it out for a short period of time, but if I am being suddenly told that I can never sell it for any reason, then why would I go about that? Andy Wightman I take what the member says, but the amendment in my name talks about reviewing the current law in particular, section 3. It says nothing about any specific changes that may be made. I may have articulated those, but the amendment simply asks for a review. What is wrong with a review? Jeremy Balfour I suppose that the member has articulated what he would want to see, and if he is going to review something, he has got to review it for a purpose. The only purpose that I can see if there is going to be a change in the law is to stop people from bringing forward property, particularly here in Edinburgh and in other parts of Scotland, where there will simply be less and less rented accommodation available and we could end up with more and more homelessness and people using their houses for holiday lets and other things where they get that protection. I simply think that it is perhaps not being fought out properly. That is an important issue. I think that, by and large, there is consensus within the Parliament, and we need to do something. I welcome the Government's moves so far, and I agree with others that we cannot get delayed in delaying this too long. That is an urgent issue. If the Government seeks to work cross-party and quickly it will get the support of other groups within the Parliament. I call Ruth Maguire. We are followed by James Dornan. Mr Dornan is the last speaker in the open debate. Ms Maguire, please. Everyone needs a safe, warm place that they can call home. It is more than just a physical place to live. As MSPs, I am sure that we will all know through our case work, full well, the toll that a lack of such a place can take on folk. The security and routes that a home provides are essential to physical and emotional health and wellbeing. Under article 25 of the universal human rights declaration, everyone has a fundamental human right to housing. Scotland already has some of the strongest rights for homeless people in the world. Here, everybody found to be homeless is legally entitled to housing, and most people are provided with settled permanent accommodation. Huge progress in tackling homelessness has been made, but there is so much more to do. I welcome the ending homelessness together action plan and the fact that the Scottish Government accepts all of the 70 recommendations. I thank the homelessness and rough sleeping action group for all their hard work. This is a plan that has people and prevention at the centre with a shift towards rapid rehousing, which will see homeless people housed in long-term and settled accommodation solution that meets their needs as soon as possible. The together part of the plan is really important. Ending homelessness will need Scottish Government, COSLA, local authorities, third and public sector bodies all working together. Members will have received briefings from a number of organisations that will ultimately be part of the work that sees the aim of the plan, that everyone has a home that meets their needs and homelessness is ended. I think that it is a measure of the quality of the work that has been done that the majority of stakeholders have warmly welcomed the proposed actions. Scottish women's aid has strongly welcomed the renewed focus of the Scottish Government on prevention. However, it highlights their disappointment at what they describe as a missed opportunity to consider the distinct gender differences and underlying causes of women's homelessness. I agree with them when they say that whilst people experiencing homelessness will share common experiences, an understanding of women and children's distinct experience and the underlying cause of the risk of homelessness is absolutely essential. Women's economically disadvantaged position in the labour market, often in part-time low-paid, sometimes precarious work, managing child and other caring responsibilities, means that they are disproportionately dependent on the social housing sector. During those 16 days of action, as many of us in this chamber wear white ribbons to show our support for the eradication of violence against women, it would seem ridiculous not to highlight that domestic abuse is a major cause of women's homelessness in Scotland. Scottish Government homeless statistics from 1718 tell us that a dispute within the household violent or abusive was given as the main reason for homelessness by 4,395 applicants, 78 per cent of whom were women and more than half had children on their application. In fact, more women make a homeless application under this category than for any other reason. The recent EHRC report on the state of equality and human rights in Scotland highlighted that evidence that is prevented so far does not capture hidden homelessness. As we know, those figures around women's homelessness will not really show the full extent of the issue as many women who are fleeing domestic abuse will often stay in various insecure housing situations or with family or friends before making a homeless application. Domestic abuse is both a cause and a consequence of women's inequality. The Scottish Government's equally safe strategy recognises that and highlights homelessness as a factor that can keep women and girls trapped in an abusive home. Earlier this week, the cabinet secretary responded positively to my question about the importance of embedding equality and human rights impact assessments in work to ensure that, unlike the UK Government policies that the UN rapporteur assessed as being as if they were compiled by a roomful of misogynists who were tasked with making a system that worked better for men but not women, that we can and will do better here in Scotland and address structural inequalities faced by women and girls. In closing, I welcome the aims and the proposed actions in this plan. I have to ask the Government to reflect on whether embedding inequalities in human rights approach would have resulted in a plan that better recognised existing inequalities experienced by women and girls and ensured that they were recognised and not repeated and enforced. I would also ask that, in summing up the Government addresses the points raised by Scottish Women's Aid and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations around the need for greater understanding of the gendered nature of homelessness. I call James Dornan and then we move to closing speeches. A couple of years ago, I had the dubious pleasure of sleeping out rough in Hamden Park and, obviously, it was for two reasons. One was to fundraise and the other one was to highlight the issue of homelessness and rough sleeping. Now, for me, it was an uncomfortable cold kind of difficult evening, but the truth is that I never was under any threat. I never had to worry about being assaulted, any criminal actions taken against me, violent or non-violent, like many of the people that we know that live on the streets. The other, more recently than before, I have been speaking to a lot of homeless people and asking them what takes them out there, why they have ended up in such a place. The stories would just break your heart. I spoke to one woman who told me that she is on the street because her husband had slashed her and stabbed her in the throat and she had to run away and she was looking for a hostel for the evening. This was in Edinburgh. I spoke to a guy last night who had come to Edinburgh to get work with a relative. The job fell through and he was trying to scrape together £20 to spend a night in a hostel. That is no way for anybody to live. It is just not the right thing for anybody to have to put up with. It is tragic because we can do what we can. We can give them a couple of pounds and give them something to eat. However, as individuals, we cannot solve the long-term problem, which is ultimately the responsibility of the Scottish Government and the rest of society. There are a couple of reasons why I am pleased to get the opportunity to speak in this debate. We are still in November and November is the month in which we remember those who sacrificed and spent time in the army and air force and navy. I know that veterans are a group of people who are very often affected by homelessness. Very often, when they come out of the services, they come out with a number of conditions and they come out with not being able to reintegrate into the civil society very easily with PTSD. They might go and stay with families and find that the conditions they have got make that sort of living almost impossible and very often end up with mental health issues and staying on the street. I contacted the housing associations in Glasgow and they were all very positive in their responses. Some said that they would improve their actions and some said that they would bring actions forward. GHA from the weekly group said that what they would do is put aside 10 houses a year for veterans to make sure that they could get houses. Graham Day, the minister talked about this in the chamber. Graham Day said that this initiative will help to achieve the ambition that Scotland should become the destination of choice for those leaving the armed forces, but it is only if other people get behind the actions that the organisation such as GHA has taken. I was speaking on the debate on Tuesday, me too, and it was an incredibly powerful and emotional debate for anybody that was in. I gave the story of one of my constituents. A theme that came through time and time again was that she was a repeated victim of domestic abuse. Time and time again, one of the issues was that she had to flee. She had to flee and she had to try and find somewhere else to start again, and there was just no place of safe refuge for that unfortunate young woman to relax even for a brief period of time. It just added to the pressures that we are going to put on her, which probably in some cases led her to make more bad choices, which led her to be abused again and the cycle goes on and on. Domestic violence has been talked about a lot just now, and I had some great contributions about that today. It is important that that is at the centre of what the Scottish Government is looking to do in their ending homelessness together action plan. I welcome the money, I welcome the £50 million, I welcome the rapid rehousing, but we have to make sure that the domestic violence issue is dealt with. We cannot have people who are in a situation that I cannot bear to think about having to wake up every morning and not have the opportunity to escape from that because he cannot think of anywhere to go or have a stop where he could get the advice that is required. Before I finish, I just have to touch on Jackie Baillie's contribution. Jackie Baillie talked about the Scottish Government and things that have got worse over the last 10 years. It cannot just be me, but I am fairly confident that something happened about 10 years ago when there was a financial crash, there was a change of government in 2010, there was deliberate austerity, there has even been UK audit reports that put the blame exactly where it should go and that is at the Westminster Government. What is happening is that, as our budgets are cut, as the need is growing stronger, we are doing everything that we can. The Scottish Government is doing what it can under extremely serious circumstances. This is a very good action plan. Everybody should be getting behind it and we should be looking to make sure that this conversation that we are having just now, we do not have to have in another five or six years time because we are much closer to closing that gap than we ever have before. So what I would say to everybody in this chamber is that let's get behind the action plan, let's make sure that we make life better for those who are sleeping rough and homeless, and let's make sure that we do it as soon as we possibly can. I would like to echo James Dornan's point about getting behind the action plan. Despite the differences in opinion that we have heard this afternoon, I think that there is a lot in the action plan that is going to be helpful and I agree that we should get behind it. I think that all members would agree that. We have heard some quite interesting contributions. I very much welcome Pauline McNeill's observation that homelessness is as much, if not more, a health issue. Housing homelessness is a sickness, housing is a cure and many people are thrown into homelessness because of health issues and many people's health issues are tackled by having that very basic human right at home. In fact, in June this year, Crisis published some research showing that a spend of £965 million would deliver £2.65 billion of benefits across justice, health and other portfolios by fundamentally sorting out one of the key issues that leads to people ending up in prisons, ending up in hospitals, ending up in the streets. Kezia Dugdale made a very powerful speech articulating the direct lived experience of many people, far too many people, not just in Edinburgh, but across Scotland, the United Kingdom and Europe, including two who are tragically now dead. The cabinet secretary in her opening remarks talked about housing being a human right, and that was echoed by one or two other members. However, it is fairly clear to me that people's human rights to housing are being violated. It is not an easy job to hold Governments or whoever else to account under the human right to housing because it is not part of the European Convention on Human Rights. I welcome the establishment of the Government's Homeless Prevention and Strategy group. I have just looked at the membership of that group—I understand that the minister chairs that group—to ensure that on that group are some homeless-experienced people. I can assure Mr Wighton that I co-chair the group with Councillor Elinor Whitton of COSLA, who has lived the experience of homelessness, and a number of other folks on that group have lived the experience of homelessness. We are not doing this in isolation, but we have folk around that table who know what it is like. Jackie Baillie reviewed the history of this Parliament's efforts in the field of homelessness, and it is not a happy story. It underscores how much work there is still to do. Other members, Gillian Martin, Oliver Mundell and Emma Harper talked in particular about hidden homelessness in rural areas, which are often hidden, particularly in areas such as Aberdeenshire, which are frequently regarded as being otherwise quite prosperous. I echo that, knowing personally a number of people and communities who have worked in them over the past few years in places such as Apple Cross, more than 50 per cent of the houses there are holiday and second homes. That is why it is fundamentally important that, in the planning system, such uses are subject to planning constraints in places such as Apple Cross that local folk cannot afford to live and that the economy is suffering. Over parts of the west coast of Scotland, people, workers with jobs, with sometimes fairly decently paid jobs, are living under upturned boats. The cabinet secretary talked about Scotland being in the global forefront. In this everybody in report that crisis produced, they have a table on page 395 and they talk about what a perfect homelessness system would look like across Great Britain. They have 10 principles and they assess them on a traffic light system, red, amber, green across England, Wales and Scotland. There are three green dots. Scotland has two, Wales has one. Of those three countries, Scotland is doing best. However, the European Federation of National Organisations working with homelessness, their third overview of housing exclusion in Europe 2018, identified only one country in Europe that has really successfully tackled this problem and that is Finland. Even in a country like Scotland where we have seen a 40 per cent drop in homelessness applications, we still have extremely serious problems. A key driver in that has been the long-term decline in public housing since the 1980s. I welcome the Government's attempt to begin to reform that, to change it, to turn around. The 50,000 homes target is welcome. The action plan reminds us of the Government's commitment and I quote to build 50,000 affordable homes. In May 2018, at First Minister's Questions, Patrick Harvie asked the Scottish First Minister whether the SNP's manifesto commitment and I quote, we will invest £3 billion to build at least 50,000 more affordable homes over the next five years. Still stands, and the First Minister said yes. However, the housing stats show that of the 50,000 target that the Government claims to have delivered 15,870 in 2016-17 and 2017-18, but only 9,942 or 62 per cent of that are new-build. The Government has abandoned its manifesto commitment. We have allowed flexibility and will deliver 50,000 affordable homes, 35,000 of those for social rent. In a number of areas, it may not be possible to build new, and we have allowed local authorities the flexibility to buy back homes, to take them back into social stock in areas where it may not be possible to build. We will deliver 50,000 affordable homes, 35,000 of those for social rent. I welcome that intervention. I remind the First Minister that the SNP manifesto commitment is to build those affordable homes rather than just to deliver them. I have another 40 seconds. The report, which is a very weighty tome by everybody by crisis, has a quote from Claire in Edinburgh. I was married for 18 years, but it turned into a very abusive relationship. I went to the council and they put me in a hostel. It was horrible. I went to the council to ask for somewhere else, but they said that there was nothing available. If I did not go back, I would be intentionally homeless. I was too scared, I did not want to be around those people. My mental health was really struggling, and I was beginning to turn to drink. Now I just bid on council flats while trying to make enough money during the day to get a room in a backpacker's hostel. It is sometimes in a shared room, but it is much safer, and it is usually with okay people. Otherwise, I sleep on the street. I still see my son every day. I go to street work, a homeless charity here in Edinburgh to clean up every morning. I pick him up from home and take him to his baby group just to spend time with him. I do not know what will happen. I am just trying to keep going. I do not want to live like this. Let us make sure that stories like Claire's, like the constituents that Kezia Dugdale referred to, are no longer stories that we have to stand up in this chamber and rehearse. Thank you very much, and I remind members that they should be in the chamber for closing speeches if they have taken part in a debate. I now call Mark Griffin to close for Labour, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. The inescapable fact from today's debate is that, for the first time in a number of years, homelessness is rising. We have heard from a number of speakers varying opinions and various theories as to why that is happening, but at the end of the day, what that means is that more people are going without the safety, warmth and comfort of having a roof over their head. The infrastructure to deal with this humanity crisis simply cannot cope. Kezia Dugdale called out Edinburgh Council, which has left 466 families in the city, suffering from temporary accommodation for longer than seven days. Some of the heartbreaking examples that brought that to life are breaking the law and the process. Graham Simpson spoke about the need for Parliament to agree to limit the use of temporary accommodation to a maximum of seven days, beyond just a consultation as a plan offers, and I look forward to seeing urgent legislation from the minister. My colleague Pauline McNeill spoke about the gender and sometimes intersectional nature of homelessness affecting single people, women and children, those who have been victims of domestic abuse, those who have experienced a relationship breakdown, as well as young people generally. Underlining what Pauline McNeill said is the call on our amendment today, where the actions will fall on local councils, registered social landlords and the third sector who will need the resources to make the action plan a reality. Small pot after small pot of cash re-announced simply won't cut it, so we'll have to wait until the budget to see if they'll get the support to carry that plan forward. The prevention is a thread that runs through the plan and the debate today. The Scottish ministers have said that prevention is just as important as how we collectively respond if and when homelessness does happen. Prevention is always better than addressing a crisis situation, but to be worthwhile, there needs to be action put in place. For all the efforts of this chamber's successive Governments to prevent homelessness since 1999, something has clearly failed that we are yet again revisiting it. In the North Lanarkshire Council area, homelessness applications have shot up by almost 15 per cent in the last year, reversing a downward trend following changes to the allocation policy and housing option interventions. The onslaught of universal credit from the Tory Government and crippling budget cuts flying the face of the plans and efforts that have gone before. The red flags, the financial crisis, Tory budgets and the roll-out of universal credit should have been plain to see and act upon, but the impact of universal credit along with affordability issues in the private rented sector is now an emerging cause of homelessness locally. Although North Lanarkshire is twice as likely to resolve someone's homelessness application, the extent of the risk posed by universal credit is inescapable. In the four months of roll-out to August, the number of people in arrears for their rent almost tripled, the council's rent deficit jumping by £1 million and a quarter of people on universal credit in North Lanarkshire Council are now in debt to that council. I want to call on the chamber to think about how we act to help people in that situation. When we look back at what we have done in the chamber in the past about the bedroom tax, we acted. Yes, we had to react and mitigate, but we did so as a preventative measure because it removed the risk of not sustaining a tenancy. Last week, I asked the cabinet secretary for social security to begin consideration of a move to an automatic landlord payment of universal credit. In April, this Parliament decided that split payments should be made automatically and coupled with an opt-out for those who chose not to, so why not with landlord payments? The first Scottish choices were proposed and passed to a lot of fanfare. At the time, we possibly even looked over the submissions that we had from Parkhead housing association, Aberdeen and Highland councils, as well as prospect community housing, who called for such an opt-out. Highland councils said that the council believes that the Scottish Government flexibilities provides the opportunity to deliver a more fundamental shift by enabling housing costs to be paid directly to social landlords as standard. At the moment, landlords can request direct payments, but that is after eight weeks of arrears and debt has been built up in a household. Why not switch that choice around from automatically going to a landlord to an automatic payment to a tenant so that they can pursue? They are then left with a situation in which they are always secure in their tenancy. They know that their rent will go direct to the landlord and their tenancy will always be secure. Just today, the Scottish Government published evidence from the experience panels explicitly around the issue of Scottish choices. I will close by reading out some of the comments that were made in that evidence panel exercise. One member of the evidence panel said that direct to the landlord is the best way. People on the bedline will too easily dip into it if needs arise. It is hard, but protect your roof at all costs. Another one said that, personally, I would have preferred payments sent to my landlord as I ended up in debt. Also being paid monthly left mean debt, I was never offered any other choice. A third one said that I would prefer it paid straight to the landlord so that, if there were any issues, it would come straight from the DWP and I would not get into trouble. I would ask the cabinet secretary and the minister to reflect on the evidence coming through those experience panels and remain open to the option of an automatic payment through universal credit to our landlord to secure people's tenancies in the first instance and prevent some of that homelessness that is occurring. Okay, thank you, Presiding Officer. Before I start, can I just direct people to my register interests because of the trustee of an estate that was left to the people? I do through that, manage tenancies and holiday lets. Thank you for asking me to close today on behalf of the Conservatives, because I think that this is a really important debate. Homelessness, as many people in this chamber and Jackie Baillie, not least of all, has been something that Governments have grappled with for a long, long time. It has been subsequent Governments and it has been parties of all colours that have