8. To ask the Scottish Government what help and support are available to help veterans to access housing. (S4O-03748)

There is a wide range of help and support available to help veterans to access housing.

The Scottish Government has provided funding and support to a variety of new projects and housing developments for veterans, such as the veterans’ housing facility at Cranhill in Glasgow, which was opened last month.

We have produced a tailored housing guide for veterans and have supported organisations that provide advice and support to veterans to help them to understand their housing options.

Other sources of help include the Scottish Government’s LIFT—low-cost initiative for first-time buyers—scheme, which helps people on low to moderate incomes to access home ownership, and is available to veterans. In addition, serving members of the armed forces and veterans who have left the armed forces in the past two years are provided with priority access to the LIFT schemes.

I have been approached by many constituents in Paisley who live in veterans’ housing and who feel that it is not fit for purpose. That housing is often provided by charities that are not bound by the Scottish housing quality standard. In those cases, what can be done to ensure good-quality housing for our veterans?

The Scottish housing quality standard is a target that ministers have set for all social landlords, including registered social landlords that are also charities. If a landlord is not a social landlord, it will probably be subject to the repairing standard that applies to most private landlords. Private landlords who are subject to the repairing standard are required by the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to meet the standard throughout the life of a tenancy. Tenants of such landlords can apply to the Private Rented Housing Panel for assistance if their landlord fails to carry out repairs that are needed in order to meet the repairing standard. The panel can enforce repairs by issuing a repairing standard enforcement notice. If the properties that are causing concern are not subject to the SHQS, I encourage George Adam and his constituents to consider raising their concerns with the panel.

During the passage of the recent Housing (Scotland) Bill, I discussed with the then Minister for Housing and Welfare allocation policies on social rented housing for people who are leaving the armed forces. At the time, I was assured that provision was in place that made any additional moves unnecessary. Is there continuing assessment of the performance of the current Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 in relation to allocations policy for veterans? Is there any prospect of changes being made to the process, should they be proved necessary?

In our discussions with veterans organisations, they have concentrated on ensuring that disadvantage to veterans is eliminated, rather than on creating advantages for veterans. Alex Johnstone knows well enough that some local authorities—including Aberdeen City Council and Dumfries and Galloway Council, to mention but two—have been proactive in the matter. We keep the issue under review.

Perhaps the biggest issue, however, is to do with the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence can, on the day on which a person joins the armed forces, tell them that they are entitled to put their name down for a house when they leave the service, but that still does not happen. People still come out of the armed forces and have to start from scratch on a waiting list. More could be done by the MOD. Of course, we continually review what we can do with our partners in local authorities in order to ensure that we get suitable housing for all our veterans.