Rent arrears within the social housing sector in Scotland have fallen to their lowest level since April 2020 – exactly 12 months ago.
That’s according to the latest report from the Scottish Housing Regulator, which further showed that local authority arrears have also dropped overall, with rent arrears at their lowest level since May 2020.
The total number of lets made in March this year was the highest reported by social landlords since the monthly returns began, with lets to homeless people reaching over 2,000 for the first time ever.
There has also been a 26% rise in the availability of empty homes during March compared with February.
This Regulator’s report has been issued to help the Scottish government and social landlords understand the continuing impact of the COVID-19 crisis and to support the work of the Social Housing Resilience Group.
The planned changes to City of Edinburgh Council’s recording system mean it has again been unable to provide figures for the homelessness indicators in time for publication.
Outside of the capital, however, there has been a 20% increase in the number of people who applied to local authorities as homeless in March compared with February.
There was a small drop in the number of households in temporary accommodation, which fell by 1%.
Image: kitzcorner/Shutterstock
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