The Housing Education Project

Overview | Streets Ahead | My Space My Place | Local Authorities

Working With Local Authorities

The Housing Education Project actively supports local authorities helping them to meet their duties under the Housing ( Scotland ) Act 2001 on prevention as well as advice and information. We believe that good quality leaving home and housing advice can:

• help young people make a smoother transition to independent living;
• help young people avoid housing crisis;
• and help young people avoid homelessness.

The Housing Education Project provides:

Consultation on Housing Education/Advice and Information We regularly bring our expertise to working groups carrying out housing education and/or advice and information work. We have a track record of facilitating effective communication between different council departments, for example, housing, social work, and education, as well between councils and external agencies.

My Space My Place - A Tenancy Sustainment Resource for Young People -  SCSH’s innovative guide for young tenants – won a prestigious UK Housing Award for Outstanding achievement in social housing in Scotland in November 2006. '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. For more information on the young persons guide and workers toolkit click here.

Streets Ahead Guides Since its launch in October 2002 we have sold over 40,000 Streets Ahead guides. A number of local authorities have made bulk orders of guides, ranging from 500 in the Shetland Islands to 3000 in North Lanarkshire . Local authorities have distributed guides to housing offices, advice centres, schools, and young people’s projects. Care leavers are especially vulnerable to housing crisis and homelessness. To help address this issue, some local authorities have adopted the policy of providing every care leaver with a copy of the guide. The Streets Ahead guide, along with training, provides a clear focus for developing and strengthening advice and information work.

Training We offer training in the use of Streets Ahead, My Space My Place and our leaving home and housing lesson plans. Where possible, we aim to bring together workers from different agencies and with different remits. For example, a session may bring together housing officers, social workers, and teachers. As well as gaining confidence in the use of our resources, the sessions provide a forum for networking and exchanging ideas on how to help young people with their housing issues. We regularly run open sessions across Scotland as well specially tailored sessions for local authorities and other agencies. Contact the Youth Unit for more information, 0131 226 4382.

	The Streets Ahead guide with the local directory has provided us with a focus for developing our housing and homelessness prevention services for young people in North Lanarkshire . Agencies are talking to each other and maybe for the first time sharing ideas about the issues affecting youngsters and how we can empower them to find solutions for themselves. The support given by SCSH in the form of training and guidance means that staff in a variety of agencies feel confident in using the guide to underpin their individual approaches to working with the young.

Julie Hunter, Homelessness Strategy Co-ordinator,
North Lanarkshire Council

Local Directories of Services for Young People A number of local authorities have worked with us to produce local directory booklets to insert into their Streets Ahead and My Space My Place packs. As well as listing agencies and helplines that can assist with housing, agencies dealing with the full range of issues faced by young people can be included. Since October 2002, directories have been produced for North Lanarkshire , Midlothian , Shetland, Argyll & Bute, West Dunbartonshire, Glasgow, and Falkirk. A number of other local directories are in development. We offer advice and support in developing local directories and can also arrange design, layout, and print. Contact the Youth Unit for more information, 0131 226 4382.

	I think Streets Ahead is a really useful guide in assisting young people to make informed choices about leaving home. The Housing Education Team at SCSH have been really supportive in helping us to produce our local directory. I hope the local directory will make the guide even more relevant for young people in Midlothian as it will outline support that is available locally.

Rebecca Perry, Housing Information
and Advice Officer, Midlothian Council

Local Lesson Plans for Schools and other Youth Work Settings Localised lesson plans make explicit reference to local housing options and local agencies. They can also be tailored for specific issues, for example, island issues, rural issues, etc. Our involvement ranges from researching, writing, and producing plans to acting as consultants for in-house produced schemes. Building on the success of our earlier I’m Offski! education pack (published in 1998), our revised and new lesson plans are easier to use and fully up-to-date. Contact the Youth Unit for more information, 0131 226 4382.