Working with Crisis to improve private renting

A guest blog by Juliet Mountford, Executive Director of Client Services, Crisis

As the national charity for people facing homelessness, we see the devastating impact that not having a safe, secure, and affordable home has on people’s lives every day. Without this basic human right, it’s so much harder to maintain good physical and mental health, hold down a job, be in a relationship, participate in everyday life or take action on issues that matter to you.

For many finding an affordable home in the private rented sector plays a significant role in their route out of homelessness. Figures from the English Housing Survey 2022-2023 show that almost 200,000 households in the private rented sector have experienced homelessness in the last few years.

But finding safe, secure, affordable, and accessible homes in the private rented sector is getting harder, whatever your circumstances.

Homelessness and the private rented sector

It is now more challenging than ever for people experiencing homelessness to find homes in the private rented sector. The impacts of a combined housing and cost of living crisis makes access to quality, affordable rented homes an ever-growing challenge. Up-front rents, the need for guarantors and deposit payments are impossible barriers for many people experiencing homelessness.

We’re determined to improve things. We know that renting privately is a solution to homelessness for many people; offering people choice over where to live and often immediate access to a decent home.  

At Crisis, we’ve worked alongside private landlords, local authorities, and charities to help people into privately rented homes. Now, we’re delighted to be working with TDS Group in a new partnership. Not only will we provide more routes into good, well-managed and affordable homes for people facing homelessness, but we’re also aiming to make things fairer for people on low incomes across Great Britain.

Here’s how we’ll do it…

Thanks to funding from TDS, we’ll have six specialist Housing Access roles who will work in local communities across Great Britain to build relationships with landlords and create routes into good quality homes for the people we work with.

An ‘Innovation Fund’ will help with affordability and access into private rented homes, including support with deposits and rental top-ups to allow people to access the right home for them. The fund will also help with costs associated with setting up a new home; including new white goods, furniture, and household essentials.

While these services will make a huge impact on the lives of individual people, TDS’ funding will also improve data collection and provide vital evidence for change. We’ll evaluate the most effective ways to support people experiencing homelessness, into private rented homes. This evidence will be shared with politicians and housing providers to influence system-wide reform for tenants and landlords.

We look forward to sharing stories and updates as the partnership progresses. Together, we’ll make the private rented sector work better for everyone, including people facing homelessness.

To read more about the TDS an Crisis partnership, click here.

The views expressed in this content are solely those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent the views of TDS, its officers, or employees. To read more on TDS views, visit our Policies & Procedures webpage.

Protecting deposits with Tenancy Deposit Scheme is quick and easy. Choose from our FREE custodial scheme, or our best value Insured scheme.