Homelessness charity Crisis to change into a landlord for the primary time in its historical past | Crisis

Matt Downie, Chief Executive of Crisis, mentioned: “From 2026 onwards we’ll, for the primary time in our almost 60-year historical past, begin the journey to changing into a not-for-profit landlord. We’ll start by shopping for one-bedroom houses in London and Newcastle to deal with individuals experiencing homelessness who’re accessing our companies. Our ambition is that over the following three years we’ll buy 100 houses, rising to at the least 1000 houses over the following decade.     

“The motive behind that is easy and clear – you’ll be able to’t finish homelessness with out houses. Over the years our frontline companies have been discovering it tougher and tougher to seek out genuinely reasonably priced, settled houses for the individuals we help, leaving them trapped in a cycle of homelessness.     

“The causes for this are complicated and have been years within the making. Decades of coverage selections and cuts to funding for welfare, social housing supply and native authorities has led to a shortage of houses for individuals on the bottom incomes.  

“The big demand for social housing means housing associations are having to make more and more tough selections about who they allocate houses to. For the individuals we help this may imply years on a ready checklist, or not even qualifying for the ready checklist within the first place.   

“At the identical time, quickly rising rents are leaving individuals on low incomes locked out of the personal rented sector. This is exacerbated by the freeze on housing profit which is driving up homelessness and making it tougher for landlords to lease to individuals on low incomes, a lot of whom are struggling to cowl important shortfalls in lease.   

“At Crisis, we’ve labored productively with landlords for years and have discovered 1000’s of excellent houses for individuals experiencing homelessness within the personal rented sector. However, situations within the housing market have change into so difficult and – with demand for our companies on the rise – we have to discover a better provide of genuinely reasonably priced houses.   

“Another huge issue at play right here is the more and more determined conditions of among the individuals we help. Many of these we work with can’t even entry non permanent lodging as demand is so nice, leaving them pressured to sleep tough. We can’t sit by as this continues to unfold.     

“In response, we’ve sought to be a part of the reply, and work alongside native authorities, housing associations, landlords, traders, and others who need to do what’s potential to vary this. We’ve made a strategic determination to – successfully – take issues into our personal arms and intervene instantly within the housing market by changing into a landlord ourselves. What this implies is that we’ll begin to provide individuals genuinely reasonably priced, safe houses in order that they’ll rebuild their lives away from homelessness.   

“By doing this, we can also demonstrate to decision makers that managing homelessness with a series of temporary, sticking-plaster solutions is not the answer, nor is it cost-effective. An approach that prioritises supporting people into a safe, secure homes as quickly as possible is the key to ending homelessness for good.”  

Further particulars

Crisis has established a restricted firm and is working to ship 100 houses within the subsequent three years, beginning in 2026. This can be supported by a focused fundraising attraction that we’re at present within the planning phases for.     

We are working carefully with individuals with expertise of homelessness to develop technique, coverage and procedures.   

We first set out our intentions to supply housing to our members – individuals experiencing homelessness that Crisis helps – in our 10 yr technique, revealed in July 2024.