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The National Landlords Association has challenged homeless charities to stop simply supporting vulnerable homeless people and start thinking like landlords in an effort to make it easier for homeless people to find landlords willing to take them on. The Chief Executive of the NLA, Richard Lambert, made the comments at the Homelessness Link National Conference: Under One Roof.
Homeless Tenants are too High Risk for Landlords
Direct payments and a reduction in the amount of Housing Benefit have made landlords even less likely to let properties to vulnerable tenants.
“Renting homes is a business and unfortunately many landlords see renting to the homeless as too much of a risk. Very few landlords start letting with the intention of providing a social service and only the experienced landlords are set up to be able to let to this market,” said Richard Lambert.
“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.”
NLA: Homeless Charities Could Be Doing More
The NLA has come up with three areas that homelessness agencies would do well to focus on the following three areas:
- Pre-tenancy assurances – Homeless people won’t have references, so landlords should be given as much information as possible about the tenant so they can make an informed decision.
- Mitigating the risk – Can financial incentives be given to reduce the financial risk?
- Support for the tenant – Vulnerable tenants need support at the beginning and throughout a tenancy.
