This paper reviews the evolution of homelessness policy and practice in Scotland since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. It uses, as its reference point, simultaneous developments in England. It critically examines the practicability of flagship Scottish government policy to widen the remit of the homelessness legislation - effectively an extension of citizenship rights. This is compared with the more 'consumerist' tilt of the New Labour housing policy in England. At the same time, the paper draws attention to the parallels in the recent development of homelessness policy in the two jurisdictions; in the promotion of a 'strategic approach' to homelessness on the part of local authorities and the associated advocacy of 'prevention-focused practice'. Drawing on empirical research in both Scotland and England, the paper compares and contrasts approaches to homelessness prevention north and south of the border, and explores the limits of 'devolutionary divergence' in this policy area.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.