Homelessness in Scotland
In Scotland, the Scottish Government has overall and legislative responsibility for homelessness policy and legislation, whilst local councils have a statutory duty to assist in providing settled accommodation to applicants, or, if settled accommodation is unavailable at the time an application is received, then temporary accommodation must be provided until settled accommodation is available. Since the introduction of Scottish devolution in 1999 and the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament, homeless legislation and policy in Scotland has diverged in important ways from the rest of the UK. Homelessness legislation and policy is fully devolved to the Scottish Government under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998 and has full legislative competence to legislate in the area.