Financed by the Scottish Government and administered by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the Homelessness Prevention Fund will be available either on an individual basis or as part of a consortium.

A total of £1.5m will be available, over three years, from 2020/21 to 2022/23.

The fund aims to support projects that:

• contribute to reducing child poverty
• contribute to preventing homelessness
• support delivery of recommendations made to Scottish ministers by the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG).

The invitation for proposals invites Scottish housing associations and co-operatives – either on an individual basis or as part of a consortium – to submit short proposals which will help to prevent homelessness for either existing tenants, new tenants who have previously been homeless, or people who would otherwise be homeless. 

Successful proposals should demonstrate how they will deliver support to households most at risk of poverty, which may comprise:

• lone parents
• families with three or more children  
• child or parent with disability
• women facing homelessness and/or recovering from domestic abuse
• young parents, where the mother is aged under 25  
• young child (under the age of one) in household.

Proposals should respond to the 2020 HARSAG recommendations on how to accelerate the pace of work to prevent homelessness up to six months prior to homelessness. This may include

• making use of data analytics to identify people at risk of homelessness
• establishing inter-disciplinary teams as test and learn projects.

The application packs will be available from early next week, with a deadline for submission of completed applications of September 4. To receive a pack, register your interest via this link.