Homeless charities and agencies have been challenged by the National Landlords Association (NLA) to think and act more like landlords in order to help the homeless into private housing.

The comments were made by Chief Executive Richard Lambert, at the Homelessness Link National conference: Under One Roof on 8th July 2014, where it was discussed how to enable greater access to affordable housing for the homeless. 

Lambert said: “Renting homes is a business and unfortunately many landlords see renting to the homeless as too much of a risk. Very few landlords start out letting with the intention of providing a social service and only the most experienced landlords are set up to be able to let to this market.

“The question is “what can be done to increase landlords’ confidence in letting to the homeless and most vulnerable?”

He also stated that recent reductions made to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates and the removal of direct payments as the main drivers behind a decreasing confidence in providing homes for the vulnerable.

He subsequently outlined three main areas for agencies to focus their efforts:

• Pre-tenancy assurances – most homeless people will not pass standard referencing checks so what can be done do to provide landlords with as much knowledge as possible, so they know who they are dealing with and whether they can cope?
• Mitigating the risk – what can be provided in the way of deposit bonds or financial incentives that would provide the equivalent sense of reassurance that the financial risk is covered in the worst case scenario?
• Support for sustaining the tenancy – how and what kind of support can be offered from the very start – and throughout – so the tenant understands what is expected of them and knows what to do if they encounter any issues or difficulties?

Lambert finished: “It is not enough simply to get a roof over someone's head and consider the job done - things must be set up from the start so that the tenancy is in the best position to be sustained. Homeless agencies must be able to provide the assurances and safeguards that landlords seek, which means thinking about their needs as well as the tenant’s.

“Deposit bonds that mitigate some of the financial risk; support and training throughout the tenancy for both landlord and tenant; and more in-depth tenant referencing so the landlord has an idea of who they are dealing with; these are all examples of things that would go some way to increasing confidence and the supply of available and affordable homes for the ‘hard to house’.”