Following recommendations of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group (HARSAG), the Scottish government agreed to introduce a new duty for certain bodies to take steps to prevent homelessness, known as ask and act.
The work was also informed by the Homelessness Prevention Review Group (HPRG), led by Crisis, which published recommendations in 2021, setting out how a new duty might work in practice.
Part five of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 (the Act) includes the framework for the new homelessness prevention duties but much of the detail is still being developed.
What is included in the Act?
Find out who the new ask and act duty applies to and what the duty involves.
→
Developing the ask and act approach
Read about the 15 pilot projects testing ask and act approaches across Scotland, running until December 2026.
→
Other prevention measures in the Act
Read about earlier homelessness intervention, changes for domestic abuse victims, and reporting on Housing First.
→
