Rural Homelessness
The Robertson Trust has been working with Shelter Scotland over five years to develop projects addressing the issue of homelessness which is often overlooked due to the low numbers affected in any one community. The Trust has supported Shelter Scotland in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Council to initiate a project providing practical support to families who are either homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. The service opened in 2006.
A second Shelter Scotland project in Argyll and Bute has also been supported by the Trust along with Argyll and Bute Council. Initial research was undertaken to identify how a service could be provided to homeless families in such a vast rural area. This research identified the potential to make better use of existing services run by the voluntary sector by increasing their capacity to undertake a broader range of support. A copy of this report is available within the Publications section. A Co-ordinator was appointed to take the recommendations of this report forward.
A final report on the learning from the Argyll & Bute project will be available in the summer of 2010 and a seminar to share the learning from both of these projects is being planned for the autumn of 2010.