This section covers housing options, access to social housing, tenancy sustainment and homeless people.
Local authority landlords have the authority to issue a section 5 referral to a Registered Social Landlord, under Section 5 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. Once the Section 5 is issued the RSL have up to six weeks to provide housing to applicants assessed as statutorily homeless.
The number and percentage of homeless households referred to RSLs under section 5 and other referral routes
| 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | Scottish LA Average | |
| Number referred to RSLs under section 5 | 36 | 35 | 28 | 245 |
| Number referred through other routes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 |
| Total number of homeless households that we had a statutory duty to secure permanent accommodation | 422 | 438 | 439 | 1,034 |
| Percentage of homeless households referred to RSLs under Section 5 and other referral routes | 8.53% | 7.99% | 6.38% | 29.2% |
We continue to work with our Registered Social Landlord colleagues to meet the needs of, and to house homeless applicants in Clackmannanshire. 2023/24 reporting period saw a continuous reduction in the number of referrals made to Registered Social Landlords as RSLs have continued to allocate to homeless applicants from their own waiting list.
During reporting year 2023/24, we let a total of 358 properties, 72 of these went to applicants from our housing waiting list, 237 to homeless applicants and 49 to existing tenants. A total of 37 tenants swapped homes using the mutual exchange scheme.
In 2023/24, the number of homeless applicants continued to be high. We continue letting a larger number of voids to this applicant group in order to free up temporary accommodation for new homeless presentations.
Number and percentage of Lettable Houses that became vacant during the year
| Year | Number | Percentage |
| 2021/22 | 354 | 7.35% |
| 2022/23 | 389 | 8.02% |
| 2023/24 | 342 | 7.01% |
| Scottish LA Average | 7.2% |
2023/24 reporting period saw a decrease in the number of properties becoming vacant throughout the year. The team have worked hard to address tenancy-related issues at the earliest stage after being notified by our tenants. The void figures are now also below the Scottish Local Authority average.
| % of new tenancies sustained for more than a year |
2021/22 |
2022/23 | 2023/24 | Scottish LA Average |
| Existing tenants | 98.15% | 97.62% | 95.08% | 94.6% |
| Homeless applicants | 85.05% | 87.50% | 89.95% | 89.5% |
| Housing list applicants | 93.94% | 91.49% | 94.29% | 91.6% |
| Others | 0% | 100% | 0% | 89.2% |
| All | 88.66% | 89.80% | 91.45% | 91.1% |
Our overall sustainment figure has seen a continuous improvement from the last 2 years and is now on par with the Scottish Local Authority average. The improvement in figures can be attributed to the efforts of our Housing Officers and the Housing Support team to ensure that tenants who have additional support needs are provided with tailored support to help them sustain their tenancies.
| Home Adaptations | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 |
Scottish LA Average |
| Number of households currently waiting for adaptations to their home | 131 | 96 | 67 | 79 |
| Total cost of adaptations completed in the year | £148,397 | £256,189 | £813,873 | £22.1m |
| Total number of adaptations completed during the reporting year. | 160 | 245 | 297 | 478 |
| The average working days to complete adaptations | 88.92 | 74.11 | 164.27 | 43.4 |
In 2023/24 reporting period we brought in an external contractor to help us clear the backlog of required adaptation works that were stopped over the pandemic. We have successfully managed to reduce the number of households waiting for adaptations and have completed a larger number of adaptions from the previous reporting year. However, the demand for adaptations has not decreased and there have been issues in procuring the required equipment for minor works. This has resulted to larger delays and to substantial increase in the average number of working days taken to complete adaptations.
The contractor has been awarded a new 4-year contract and we hope to see the backlog and the waiting list to be reduced in the next reporting year.
Homeless applications have seen a continuous rise since 2020/21 with 616 homeless applications received during the 2023/24 reporting year. This represents a 4% increase from the previous year and is on par with the national statistics. Whilst homeless applications are at the highest level since 2011/12, the rate of homeless presentations has decreased compared to the previous year.
Housing
Kilncraigs, Greenside Street, Alloa, FK10 1EB
Tel: 01259 450000
Email: housing@clacks.gov.uk