In light of the recommendations in the Shelter Scotland report, In Their Own Words: Children’s Experiences in Temporary Accommodation, what…

Scottish local authorities use a diverse portfolio of temporary accommodation and there is a wide variety of legislation that caters for physical standards across these types of accommodation. These include the tolerable standard, which is a basic level of repair that applies to all property to make it habitable; the Scottish Housing Quality Standard, which applies to social rented sector properties; Houses in Multiple Occupation licensing for bed and breakfast accommodation and hostels; and the repairing standard in the private rented sector.All local authorities should ensure that the temporary accommodation they provide to fulfil their duty to accommodate homeless households meets the temporary accommodation standards framework, published by the Scottish Government in 2023. The framework sets out the physical, location, service and management standards to ensure that temporary accommodation is of good quality and is safe, warm and affordable. Although consultation is required before the framework can be legally enforced, the framework was developed to ensure consistency in standards across all local authority areas.The Scottish Housing Regulator assesses the compliance of all social landlords in meeting the tolerable standard and Scottish Housing Quality Standard, and would be obliged to assess landlords’ performance on meeting the temporary accommodation standards framework once it is enforced. Work is required to develop indicators to enable the Scottish Housing Regulator to assess local authority performance against the framework. In the meantime, social landlords should ensure that their temporary accommodation meets these standards.