Brilliant Bargain Booklets!

Published: March 2009

Availability: See below

At their original price, they were great value for money, but now the Award Winning ‘My Space, My Place’ guides are half price; you would be quite right to be squealing with delight and amazement whilst reading this!.

Each guide consists of 11 magazines of invaluable information aimed at young tenants aged 16 to 25 who are moving into their first tenancies. The magazines include lots of practical advice, produced in a very user friendly layout and format. These would normally be priced at £12.50 each, but are now at the bargain cost of £6.25*.

Or, if it is a guide to leaving home that would be more suitable, how about the ‘Streets Ahead’ Guide – aimed at 14 to 21 year olds. This resource was created by young people, for young people. It was £6 per copy, and is down to £3*.

To order, just call the Youth Team at SCSH on: 0131 226 4382.

* All prices exclude the P&P Charge.

Making the Most of Starter Packs

Published: March 2008

Availability: Free download

A new supplement for starter packs schemes has just been published. The new guide demonstrates the environmental benefits of starter pack schemes and is available to download for free from this website.

Stay or go? Young people living at home and leaving home: a guide for parents

Published: November 2007

Availability: £2.00 each (1-19 copies) / £1.50 each (20+ copies) + P&P

‘Stay or go?’ is a guide for parents to help them talk with young people about what is involved in leaving home. The guide provides up to date practical information about housing options, legal rights and sources of advice and support.

My Space My Place Young Persons Guide - Award Winning Resource

Published: May 2006

Availability: £12.50 young persons guides £30 workers toolkits

My Space My Place, SCSHs innovative guide for young tenants, won a prestigious UK Housing Award for Outstanding achievement in social housing in Scotland in November 2006.

Every housing provider knows that young people often struggle to sustain their tenancies and that these struggles can lead to crisis and even homelessness. The Scottish Council for Single Homeless' Tenancy Sustainment Resource for young people 'My Space, My Place' can play a valuable role in prevention work. By giving young people the advice and information they need in a form that they understand and respond to we can help them to keep their tenancies going.

My Space My Place - Workers Toolkit

Published: May 2006

Availability: £30 (bulk discounts available)

The toolkit consists of a My Space My Place young persons guide plus an extra booklet for workers and a CD packed with useful content, including:

• 15 session plans, including one to one, group work, and sessions with a focus on leaving care
• video clips of young people describing their experience of independent living
• sample letters
• templates for customising the My Space My Place pack

Streets Ahead

Published: First published 2003, last revised 2007

Availability: £6 (+P&P) plus bulk discounts available

The national guide to leaving home and housing for young people in Scotland. The Streets Ahead guide is an innovative resource addressing the issue of leaving home and housing. It has been warmly welcomed by young people and those working with them. Since its launch in October 2002, more than 30,000 guides have been sold and distributed throughout Scotland. A second edition was produced in November 2004.

The Streets Ahead guide looks at a range of leaving home and housing topics. Each topic is covered by a short, youth-friendly booklet, with the complete set of booklets packaged in a zip-up CD carry case. The guide helps young people consider their full range of options and raises their awareness of the support that is available It also introduces them to the challenges other young people have experienced in leaving home and living independently.

Online version of Streets Ahead

Rewards for Learning: Nurturing success in young people with housing issues

Published: May 2007

Availability: £10

A survey and report from SCSH on rewarding the efforts of young people who are receiving housing support as they develop new skills and learning. Click the link for more details.

Monitoring and Evaluating Leaving Home and Housing Education

Published: April 2007

Availability: £10 (P&P)

This combined report and toolkit provides a range of adaptable ideas, concrete materials and case studies that can be used in the monitoring and evaluation of work on leaving home and housing education.

A resource for teachers, youth workers, support workers, peer educators or anyone involved in working with young people and delivering any kind of leaving home and housing education.

Download free tools from the toolkit here including quizzes, baseline questionnaires and evaluation forms.

home smart

Published:

Availability: Free to download

In November 2006 the SCSH home smart campaign coincided with a month of BBC programming on homelessness and high profile campaigning by other organisations to mark the 40th anniversary of the TV play Cathy Come Home. The aim of the campaign was to ensure every young person in S4 learned the key facts about homelessness and how to avoid it.

Click the link for SCSHs education project for S4 pupils and for coverage of the parliamentary debate on motion lodged by Linda Fabiani MSP.

Service User Involvement: A study of youth housing services in Scotland

Published: September 2006

Availability: £10 (+ P&P)

In 2005-2006 SCSH undertook a series of interviews with projects providing housing support to young people. Our aim was to find out how these projects involved their service users. This small survey – encompassing 21 projects – gives a snapshot of both the different kinds of service user involvement activity and the extent of such activity across Scotland.

This report sets out a straightforward mapping tool – adapted from Arnstein’s well-known ladder of participation - for assessing the level of service user involvement in housing support projects and shows how those surveyed scored. Projects can also use this tool to assess the service user involvement taking place within their own organisation.

A8 Migrant Workers and their experience of homelessness in Scotland

Published: July 2006

Availability: £12.50 (inc P&P)

Migrant workers from the A8 countries are making a significant contribution to the Scottish economy. However, they can be vulnerable to homelessness and can have difficulty in accessing appropriate services. Their status as migrants can also make it complex for local authorities, and other service providers, to respond effectively to their needs.

The Scottish Council for Single Homeless responded to concerns expressed by its members, including local authorities, and surveyed Scotland’s local authorities to establish how they were addressing the needs of homeless A8 migrants. The survey sought to quantify the level of demand for services and identify any other specific issues.

Executive summary free download

Start Me Up ! - A handbook on Starter Packs for homeless people

Published: November 2005

Availability: £6 (inc P&P)

Scottish Council for Single Homeless and Scottish Churches Housing Action have published a handbook, which sets out the practical steps in running starter packs schemes for homeless people. Starter packs provide basic household essentials such as kitchen goods, cleaning materials and bedding to people resettling in a new house after a period of homelessness.

Handbook editor Matt Elton of SCSH said: "We organised an information-sharing day for schemes throughout Scotland last year, and one of the things requested was a handbook. Make it practical and not too wordy, they said - and that's what we've done. We hope the handbook will encourage new schemes where there are none at present."

Moving Towards Indepencence - The Carers Guide

Published: September 2005

Availability: £2.00 each (1-19 copies) / £1.50 each (20+ copies) + P&P

This A5 booklet is for foster carers, residential workers and anyone caring for a young person moving towards independence.

The booklet can be used as both a reference book for housing information and as a practical tool for talking to young people about preparing for and maintaining their own place when they eventually move on. Before they have lived on their own for the first time, many young people have a very poor grasp of the realities of independent living. They’ve often no idea about rents, how much their bills will be, what their rights are and where to seek advice. The booklet is important simply because the better prepared a young person is before they move out of care, the lower the risk they will experience some form of housing crisis.

My Space My Place - tenancy sustainment report

Published: November 2004

Availability: £7.50 (+ P&P)

Produced by SCSH and Scottish Youth Housing Network. From the successful Tenancy Consultation Event held in Dundee 2004, the exciting and thought provoking ‘My Space My Place’ report shares thoughts, ideas, personal experiences and words of wisdom from around 70 different young people. This report gives a full account of the issues raised by young people, workers and facilitators who were involved and a glimpse of the methods of tenancy sustainment adopted by some of the projects who were represented at the events.

Is anyone home?

Published: September 2004

Availability: Free to download

A joint report from SCSH and the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland which warns that the Scottish Executive risks seriously undermining the implementation of the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003, unless significantly more affordable rented housing is built.

Mind the Gap!

Published: June 2004

Availability: Free to download

In order to assess the future level of need for social rented housing required in Scotland, including new housing needed to implement the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003, SCSH carried out a survey of local authorities during April 2004. This paper provides interim results from the survey based upon the initial 25 local authorities who have responded.

In Need of Support? A survey of Supporting People Providers Six Months On

Published: November 2003

Availability: Free

This report eveals that many providers experienced problems, following the introduction of the Government's new funding regime for housing support services, Supporting People, in April 2003. Executive Summary

Single Room Rent

Published: May 2002

Availability: Free to download

A survey into the effects of the Single Room Rent on young people moving into the private rented sector.

Watch this Space: Young People’s Views on Writing & Designing a Leaving Home Guide

Published: 2002

Availability: Free to download

A report published by the Scottish Council for Single Homeless and the Scottish Youth Housing Network which examines the housing information needs of young people.

I'd Like to go to College

Published: 2002

Availability: £10

Homeless young people face enormous barriers to accessing further education. Many have the capacity to achieve qualifications, but may lack the stability, confidence or skills necessary to travel to college every day, attend classes, and do the necessary homework. This report analyses one imaginative effort to overcome these barriers. Many homeless young people take part in voluntary and user involvement programmes that offer opportunities for personal development and training, without the skills acquired receiving accredited recognition. This project, led by SCSH with support from the Edinburgh Youth Social Inclusion Partnership (EYSIP), developed a partnership between a team of homeless young people, Stevenson College and the voluntary sector that succeeded in delivering mainstream further education qualifications without requiring the young people to attend a classroom.

Service User Participation - Concepts, Trends, Practices

Published: 2001

Availability: £10

This report from SCSH offers an overview of service-user involvement methods, models and perspectives. Aimed at both policy makers and practitioners, it will bring your organisation up to date with the latest thinking on this increasingly prominent area of policy and practice, equipping you to systematically plan, monitor, implement and refine participatory initiatives, while identifying potential blind-spots and conflict points.

"But what about me .... ?" Homelessness after stock transfer

Published: 2001

Availability: £10

A major study by Scottish Council for Single Homeless which looks at services to homeless people after stock transfers in England. The findings indicate that homeless services are likely to deteriorate unless local authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) plan early.

The report examines the English experience of how the service for homeless people was affected as a result of local authority stock transfer. It is important for a wide UK audience including: Local authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSL’s) which have been through the process of stock transfer or are in the process of planning this type of housing initiative; Housing associations, voluntary organisations and others providing accommodation, frontline services and other support to homeless people and vulnerable groups; Policy makers working in the field of homelessness or stock transfer across the UK; Other organisations, academics and individuals working towards the resolution of homelessness and developing preventative measures; Local authorities, RSL’s and other organisations which took part in this major innovative research study by the Scottish Council for Single Homeless; Housing organisations and others interested in the rights of homeless people.

Young Homeless People: Speaking for Themselves

Published: 2000

Availability: Free to download

Young homeless People: Speaking for themselves A Scottish Youth Housing Network report on the views of young people on homelessness and homelessness services.

Good Practice Checklist for Homeless Women

Published: 1998

Availability: Free to download

Produced in 1998 but still relevant today, this checklist helps identify good practice in identifying and dealing sensitively with "hidden" homeless women.