Does the Government’s homelessness strategy go far enough for the private rented sector?

The publication of the Government’s national homelessness strategy has been broadly welcomed across the sector. Its ambition to end homelessness, set clear targets to half long-term rough sleeping by 2029 and a renewed focus on prevention are all positive steps.

Yet beneath the headlines, important questions remain. Does the strategy go far enough – and does it offer anything genuinely new?

Here, we share our reflections on what the strategy means for the private rented sector (PRS).

1. The Renters’ Rights Act is progress – but it doesn’t solve PRS affordability

The strategy repeatedly points to the Renters’ Rights Act as the key lever for change in the PRS. The removal of Section 21 should improve tenant security, but it is an oversimplification to frame this as a leading cause of homelessness. The real drivers are poverty and a chronic undersupply of genuinely affordable housing.

Measures in the Act such as limiting rent increases and ending bidding wars are welcome, but they do little to address the fundamental lack of affordable homes. As Crisis has highlighted, the strategy lacks sufficient commitments to build social housing at the scale required.

The TDS Charitable Foundation has long argued that removing Section 21 alone will not automatically improve security. Tenants need to understand how their rights are changing and how to exercise them. Without a comprehensive tenant education and communications campaign, those benefits risk being lost.

There is also a risk that regulatory change will make some landlords more cautious when selecting tenants, potentially making it harder for lower-income or more vulnerable households to access housing. That brings us to the following critical omission in the strategy.

2. The continued Local Housing Allowance (LHA) freeze undermines the strategy

Our research shows that the LHA freeze is contributing to the shrinking supply of affordable homes in the PRS.

In our Voice of the Landlord survey:

• A quarter of landlords said they felt unable to rent to people receiving benefits

• Nearly half of landlords cited the growing gap between LHA rates and market rents as a reason why

More worrying still is the rate at which landlords are leaving the housing benefit market. In 2024, 20% of these landlords had sold at least one property. By 2025, that figure had risen sharply to 37%. So in just one year, 17% of landlords exited a market that already offers very limited affordable options.

Tenants are feeling the impact too. Three quarters of tenants who receive benefits report difficulty finding properties, and one in five say they have experienced discrimination. Uprating LHA would support the anti-discriminatory aims of the Renters’ Rights Act by making this part of the market more attractive for landlords.

3. A welcome recognition of the role of private landlords – but confidence must be protected

We welcome the strategy’s recognition of private landlords as partners in preventing and ending homelessness. It highlights examples of councils successfully engaging landlords through incentives and support packages to house homeless households.

We know this approach works. In the first year of our partnership with Crisis, TDS Charitable Foundation funded Housing Access Specialists who helped 158 people resolve their homelessness through new PRS tenancies. Across Crisis, 364 people secured PRS homes and 95 were supported to stay in their existing homes.

Evidence also shows benefits for landlords too. Research by the TDS Charitable Foundation found that 71% of landlords renting to local authorities (which includes homeless households and people in receipt of benefits) report satisfaction in their role, compared with 56% of landlords overall. Tenants receiving benefits are also 10% more likely to remain in their homes for three years or more, offering landlords stable and long-term occupancy.

The PRS can play an important role in tackling homelessness, and to do so, landlord confidence must be maintained at a time of significant regulatory change.

It’s vital that the Government supports landlords with clear communication about the changes ahead and addresses their concerns, for example around delays in possession claims and Tribunal decisions about rent increases.

Conclusion

The national homelessness strategy is a welcome step but it must go further – by backing prevention with genuinely affordable housing, ensuring welfare support keeps pace with rising private rents and giving landlords the confidence and support to provide much-needed homes for households experiencing homelessness.