Council ‘fails to deliver homelessness reforms’

A HOMELESS charity has claimed Midlothian Council has more work to do if it is to deliver on national reforms proposed by the Scottish Government.

Shelter Scotland said other local authorities had made “significantly more progress” in the area than Midlothian Council, which has six months to go before legislation comes in to force.

The council, which is assessing 95 per cent of applications as priority need, lies behind 14 other Scottish local authorities to have already met the 2012 commitment by assessing 100 per cent of homeless applications as priority need.

Figures also show a 15 per cent increase in the number of homelessness applications made to the council, up 660 to 762.

Graeme Brown, director of Shelter Scotland, said: “We know times are tough and local authorities are under increasing pressure, but councils with similar pressures have made significantly more progress than Midlothian.”