Government launches plan to prevent homelessness

They really are going about this is the right way, aren’t they!

Reply to the comment left by David at 15/12/2025 – 09:47
Of course, the correct way to solve homelessness is through paperwork. Who but a fool would provide more accommodation?

Couldn’t make this up…
They abolish s21, so if tenant in arrears they get s8, council not obliged to re-house.
Now they want to reduce homelessness…..
Asking councils to work with local landlords to prevent homelessness….

When every illegal migrant that arrives in an inflatable dingy gets given a room in a 4-star hotel and 3 square meals and some pocket money, the obstacle to homelessness is clearly not cash or imagination.

The point at which landlords could have constructively engaged with councils is well gone. LHAs have been given extra cash to hunt down decent and half-decent landlords (they will never find the rogues). What is their incentive to work constructively with us, when they can make a lot more money by fining us? Keeping the lowest profile possible with your LHA seems to me the way to go. My last 3 run-ins with my local LHA are:
– a magistrates’ summons for a council tax bill I didn’t owe
– threat of a criminal conviction for a selective license for a property I didn’t own
– an environmental fine for rubbish that wasn’t mine.

That sums up my relationship with local councils and I suspect it does so for most landlords.
Until perceptions change – that landlords are there to HOUSE people, not to make people homeless, nothing else will change. And for that change to happen, we need a very different narrative and some financial incentives for good landlords.

Governments never learn about not making stupid promises they can’t fulfil. There have been many attempts to end homelessness in the last 40 years, and Ive been involved in several of them. The reality is that the best we can do is minimise and manage it.

hahahah – another fantasy ‘wishlist’!

“Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions can often contribute to households becoming homeless”

Idiot.

Homelessness is caused by not having anywhere to go to if you wait until being evicted. Any and all eviction proceedings legally require prior notice to the tenant no matter what they are deemed to be called.

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 15/12/2025 – 12:32
This haphazard approach makes good headlines for the government.

If they are serious about solving the homeless problem they would engage with people like Mick from Nottingham who has lots of tenants on benefits.

Instead we are all knee deep in red tape with unacceptably large fines for minor oversights.

Let’s analyse some of this:
“This strategy is shaped by the voices of those who’ve lived through homelessness and the frontline workers who fight tirelessly to prevent it.” OK, but how about the providers of accommodation, namely landlords? Wouldn’t it be a good idea to ask them what they need and then provide it?
“Through our new strategy, we can build a future where homelessness is rare, brief, and not repeated. wishful thinking With record investment, new duties on public services, and a relentless focus on accountability code for : We will make life difficult for landlords. The last people we will make accountable are LAs, the homeless themselves, or the Government., we will turn ambition into reality.” Pigs might fly.
“Councils should also proactively build relationships with landlords in their areas, for example establishing local private landlord forums, so landlords can understand how to work with the council if they do have a tenant at risk of homelessness, and how their properties could be used to provide a home for a household in need.”
This conflates two issues. A landlord with a “tenant at risk of homelessness” is a landlord with a defaulting tenant, probably one not paying rent in full and on time. That can be solved by ensuring the landlord is paid. Any sign of that being Government policy? No!
The second issue is “how [a landlord’s property] could be used to provide a home for a household in need.” Well, unless landlords are given cast iron guarantees, not many are going to take on such tenants, especially given that we will have to wait for 3 months’ arrears to accrue before beginning the eviction process and then have to wait for 9 to 18 months to evict a non-payer who will not be worth suing for damage caused to a property.

Spoke to a prominent South East letting agent who said she hasn’t had a single investor inquiry in the last 6 weeks, but lots of landlords issuing S21 and sluggish sales.
So thank you Labour as this would seem to indicate you have hit yet more businesses , reduced rental availability and will leave landlords with unsold property they can’t even re-let for 12 months.

There are different forms of homelessness and whilst many evicted former tenants could be helped by more social housing, street homelessness and hidden homelessness has more complex causes often little to do with any lack of housing. Sweeping generalised promises like this end up furthering a loss of confidence in governments, because the most visible type of homelessness doesn’t much change and the public lose faith.