Landlords for homelessness charity to compete with Shelter and Crisis?

Reply to the comment left by Steve Hards at 08/01/2023 – 02:05
At the moment it is just an exploration of the feasibility and support for it. If it takes off I promise we will come up with a better name!

Aah how nice ,alongside motherhood and apple pie,this is a sweet but completely naive idea. The hardfacts of life are- charity donations are not predictable in the future and very volatile- rents,insurance,and repairs however are very predictable and have to be paid on the dot. Underwiting/ guaranteeing rents for homeless people ,many of whom are unemployed,unemployable,have mental issues,are drug addicts is commercially unviable. Moreover,this charity would also be competing for suitable HMO buildings alongside commercial operators and so would have to pay top dollar.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 12/12/2022 – 12:51
The charity would need to employ many transgender non binary paraplegic diversity officers.

Reply to the comment left by Susan Bradley at 08/01/2023 – 08:33
Understood, Susan. I just wanted to flag up that names are both important and a minefield 🙂

May I also say that there is a lot of focus in the discussion here about housing homeless people but I hope that help advising tenants to avoid the slippery slope into homelessness will also feature. Shelter and CAB’s emphasis on tenants’ legal rights mean that they shy away from pointing out that homelessness often results from a series of poor decisions. I think that landlords can provide a better perspective and advice on that.

Reply to the comment left by Steve Hards at 08/01/2023 – 13:34
Dear all

Here is the result of the meeting a few of us had the other day. If anyone would like to join further meetings, please let me know on [email protected]

Meeting of those from Property118 interested to address homelessness
9 January 2023

Present: David Price, Jonathan Cocks, Robert Mellors, Sue Bird, Susan Bradley
Today’s meeting covered our interest and involvement to date in the issue of landlords and homelessness.
Susan’s starting point is that she is outraged at what Shelter does.
Jono rents in Cornwall to locals who cannot live where they want to, and he is concerned about their children.
Robert is in supported living. If landlords are to do something in the area of homelessness, it needs focus and should be small. The landlord-tenant relationship is key.
David has 80 studio flats in the same complex that he rents to disadvantaged people. He is currently owed money. Tenants do not look after his properties, and it is very difficult to evict them. Public funds cover rent for such people but not the damage they do. He feels as if he takes all the risks. He thinks government or someone else should provide a guarantee for the full rent and damage remediation.
Ana has 13 properties. She thinks we should communicate more positives about landlords because we have a negative image.
Sue has bought a centre for HIV testing and counselling in Malawi and has agreed to invest with Hope into Action (it secures investors’ money to buy houses for homeless people with the help of a local church to support the tenants in accessing benefits and other services. The rent pays for the charity’s costs, ongoing repairs to the housing, and also a small return to the investors.)
Cornerstone Place was mentioned as a possible partner (they aim to get the homeless off the streets by 2030. There was a question over how feasible this is). Susan Walker was mentioned as an expert in social welfare.
We had a discussion on what we as landlords could do about our issue. Could we use our expertise in eg landlord/tenant relations? Someone like David – working for social benefit in the private sector – would need a guarantee scheme, as LHA rates are not sufficient to cover all costs let alone making a profit. Or there is the model that Robert works with: providing supported shared accommodation for people experiencing homelessness or housing need, who have additional support needs, and cannot qualify for social housing or standard private rented housing, where enhanced Housing Benefit can pay for a higher rent, (to cover the higher operating costs of providing housing to this client group). This model can be replicated but only at area level. Floating support schemes can be used in the private sector, but – unlike in the non-profit sector – are not obligatory. Alternatively, rather than setting up any scheme of our own, we could join with another charity.