Private sector homelessness move

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Plans to use the private housing sector to tackle homelessness have been unveiled by the Scottish Government.

It hopes that allowing councils to award private tenancies for at least 12 months will cut waiting times being experienced by thousands of families.

Homeless charity Shelter Scotland said building more affordable rented homes should be a key priority.

Ministers want to end unintentional homelessness by 2012 and have invested in new council housing.

Speaking as a Shelter housing conference was getting under way in Glasgow, Communities Minister Stewart Maxwell branded homelessness as "a scar on Scottish society", and said some councils were straining to provide homeless people with social lets.

He said: "We recognise the need to boost housing supply.

"We are supporting a new generation of council house building, backed by £25m and have proposed a goal to build 35,000 houses a year by the middle of the next decade."

'Compelling investment'

The government's plan would see legal changes and strict conditions attached to use of private houses, including secure tenures, affordability and meeting homeless applicants' support needs.

Shelter Scotland's head of policy, Gavin Corbett, said major changes were needed to meet the 2012 target.

He added: "More affordable rented homes must be a key priority.

"The current economic climate makes the argument for greater public investment in those homes even more compelling.

"And there could even be opportunities in the private market downturn for affordable housing providers to compete for land and even snap up unfinished units."

John Blackwood, director of the Scottish Association of Landlords, said the private housing sector had already provided much-needed accommodation and said it could play an even greater role.