Big council turns to HMO landlords to help house their homeless
9:17 AM, 23rd July 2025, 9 months ago
16
Liverpool City Council is to overhaul its approach to tackling homelessness by collaborating with private landlords to secure hundreds of homes for those in need.
The initiative, which aims to provide both temporary and permanent accommodation, comes as the city grapples with a sharp rise in homelessness.
There are 1,635 households currently in temporary housing, more than double the number when the original landlord plan was conceived last year.
In February 2024, the council approved a scheme to work with private landlords to deliver 400 housing units over five years.
Offer landlords 12-month leases
Then it was described by council leaders as a ‘means to an end’ to offer leases of up to 12 months while seeking long-term solutions.
However, that plan was deemed to be ‘unviable’ due to inefficiencies, prompting a new strategy.
The updated approach, endorsed by the council’s cabinet, focuses on securing a mix of temporary and move-on accommodation, including Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs), studio flats and properties tailored to the needs of homeless households.
Cllr Liam Robinson, speaking on BBC Radio Merseyside, said: “We’re at the sharp end of a national homelessness emergency and you see similar things in all the big cities across the country. Genuinely, we want to properly address it.”
Cost-effective housing solution
He noted that the original plans were ‘not necessarily as targeted as they could have been’ and stressed the need for a ‘more cost-effective way’ to deliver housing solutions.
The council’s Housing Solutions Service has faced ‘unprecedented demand’ in recent years, driven by a surge in Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, rising rents and limited support from family or friends.
Currently, around 1,100 households are placed in costly B&B or hotel accommodation, with few options for permanent housing.
The council’s new plan aims to ease this pressure by partnering with landlords to offer affordable and suitable homes, apparently via a third party, that can transition into long-term tenancies, enabling families to settle permanently.
Liverpool’s council cabinet plans to distribute HMOs and other housing options across the city, rather than concentrating them in deprived areas.
Liverpool’s selective licensing scheme
The council’s controversial selective licensing scheme, which requires landlords in 16 of Liverpool’s wards to obtain licences, has also faced scrutiny.
In 2020, the government rejected a proposal to renew a city-wide licensing scheme, and issues have persisted with the latest version which was brought in 2022.
Des Taylor from Landlord Licensing & Defence, in a Property118 interview, revealed: “We defended a case involving a rent repayment order where the council had written to properties saying they needed a licence, when they didn’t – because the licensing scheme didn’t cover that area.
“Yet the landlord still had to defend against a vexatious tenant who wanted to pursue it anyway, just because they’d received a letter – even though the letter was wrong.”
Leases not with the council
Under the new plan detailed in the cabinet’s minutes, the council will not hold leases or tenancies but will procure services from providers who manage properties and tenancies, with the flexibility to add more homes as needed.
This approach, combined with targeted support for households transitioning to stable tenancies, aims to reduce reliance on expensive temporary accommodations and fulfil the council’s statutory duties under the Housing Act 1996.
The strategy also meets with the council’s recently approved Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, which includes new roles to enhance early intervention and prevention measures.
Tags:
affordable housing Liverpool, HMO Liverpool, Housing crisis UK, Liverpool City Council housing, liverpool homelessness, Private Rented Sector, temporary accommodation
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Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2016
11:06 AM, 24th July 2025, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 24/07/2025 – 09:32
I don’t really blame you. My worst ever tenant was a council employee. As a consequence of that experience I would rather house an asylum seeker than a council employee, although my finance provider and my landlords’ insurance presently prohibit this.
But if Liverpool City Council have actually come up with a scheme that’s more attractive than the Serco scheme to house asylum seekers and genuinely results in a win-win partnership between the Council and landlords it would be nice to know how it works; IF it works then maybe other councils could learn from it.
Member Since November 2024 - Comments: 81
11:35 AM, 24th July 2025, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 24/07/2025 – 11:06
It would be useful if anyone here has had experience dealing with this council to be able to report back. Too many landlords have had their fingers burnt with dealing with councils and their same old, same old ‘initiatives’. They spin a good yarn but more often than not they don’t actually do what they say they are going to do and know they can get away with it – Goliath (local govt) and David (small landlord) scenario although landlord rarely wins in this case. Can you imagine if things go pear shaped with arrangements with these local govts (which you would expect with common themes of mismanagement of funds, bankruptcy, questionable business expertise) and getting redress?
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3515 - Articles: 5
9:56 AM, 25th July 2025, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Jay Hall at 23/07/2025 – 09:45
me.
ZERO
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2016
10:34 AM, 25th July 2025, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by A Reader at 24/07/2025 – 11:35
I agree 100%.
And if Liverpool city council does come up with something that makes it more attractive for PRS landlords to house homeless people, or social housing tenants, and if it manages to do that without causing social tension in a city where there is likely to be competition between supply of housing to economic migrants under the Serco contract and supply of housing to other domestic disadvantaged groups then it helps if all landlords know HOW they do it or did it.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3515 - Articles: 5
8:00 AM, 26th July 2025, About 9 months ago
so in a nutshell the council are asking private landlords to ‘offer up’ their accommodation (HMO’s and single houses) to reduce their numbers on the housing list..
YET the AST will still be between the LL and the tenant. The Council will use an ‘agent/other provider’ to source this private accommodation on behalf of the council.
No benefits to the LL then whatsoever but another agent layer which will need funding in some way? Whoever these providers are will need paying.
The LL still has to obtain a Selective Licence.
The tenant will inevitably be on benefits so that the LL still has to pray they pay the rent (month in arrears)
The min fixed term tenancy agreement has to be 12 months.
The LL will not get market rate as LHA capped.
The whole thing is going to fail as there is no benefit to the LL whatsoever here as there is no difference if a LL takes a homeless family off the waiting list now. If today a family approaches a private LL, a min 6 month AST could be offered and the council will still throw the first months rent and deposit in as an incentive. So what benefit is there to now in offering an increased contract length?
Its going to be very interesting to see what happens when the RRB comes in…when existing tenancies revert to rolling one month contracts and a fixed 12 month tenancy cannot be legally offered when an agreement is directly between a LL and tenant. The council are going to have to rethink the whole thing again from scratch!
Time to sit back and watch the councils get more and more desperate a the RRB approaches…
Member Since May 2024 - Comments: 74
1:33 PM, 26th July 2025, About 9 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 23/07/2025 – 09:36
That is exactly my concern. In my town, south coast, the council are only too keen to get us privateers to take their un housable tenants.
But. As soon as there is a problem they pile into the landlord to deal with HIS tenants! Inspections, threats of fines, env health etc.
Avoid. !