Improving private renting: Crisis’ exciting new partnership with the TDS Group

Anna Greaves, Senior Trusts, Lottery and Statutory Lead

01.09.2024

The private rented sector can be difficult to navigate for many. It becomes even more difficult if you’re struggling with money or experiencing mental health problems, and these pressures can build up until people are pushed to the brink of homelessness. Crisis’ new partnership with the TDS Group aims to make the private rented sector work better for people facing homelessness. Here’s how…

Homelessness and the private rented sector

The reality of finding and keeping a home is becoming harder and harder for people experiencing homelessness. With insufficient genuinely affordable housing to go around, many people face being trapped in homelessness for longer, with no option of finding a decent home. This means spending longer in temporary accommodation for those entitled to it. For people who must make their own arrangements, time, energy, and potential is lost in the daily search to find somewhere safe to sleep at night.

It’s a challenge we can’t resolve ourselves, but we can show the way and provide practical examples of the change we need to see. One of the ways we can do this is by partnering with like-minded organisations who have the necessary influence, expertise, and sector knowledge to help us.

Our partnership with the TDS Group

We’re excited to announce we’ll be working with TDS Group (TDS) in a new three-year partnership to make the private rented sector (PRS) work better for people facing homelessness. As the provider of England and Wales’ leading Tenancy Deposit Scheme, TDS are perfectly aligned to help us transform how we help members into decent and affordable homes in the private rented sector (PRS).

“TDS is the leading tenancy deposit and dispute resolution service provider in the UK. Our mission has always been about making profits for a purpose and helping to raise standards in the private rented sector. We believe that the privately rented homes and landlords can be part of the solution and are thrilled to be supporting this initiative to explore how we can make the sector better as a means of preventing and ending homelessness.”

Steve Harriot, CEO, TDS Group

Our partnership with TDS has been developed alongside our new 10-year strategy, which was launched recently. To achieve our goal of seeing the beginning of the end of homelessness, we need to work with partners who are also bold and ambitious.

The reality is that it is more challenging than ever for people experiencing homelessness to find homes in the PRS. The impacts of a combined housing and cost of living crisis is making access to quality, affordable homes in the PRS an ever-growing challenge. We’re determined to improve things. While we know the private rented sector can present a number of challenges, we also think it can be a source of good, settled homes. To help us, TDS has a long history of working alongside landlords and tenants and generating evidence to improve standards and access.

What the Crisis and the TDS Group partnership will provide

Thanks to TDS’ funding, we’ll have six specialist Housing Access roles who will work in local communities across Great Britain to build relationships with landlords to create routes into good quality homes for more of our members. An ‘Innovation Fund’ will remove barriers around access and affordability in the PRS for our members – including support with deposits and rental top-ups to allow Crisis members to access the right home for them. The fund will also help with the costs that come with setting up a new home – including new white goods, furniture, and household essentials. While this direct service delivery will make a huge impact on the lives of individual people, TDS are also funding us to improve our data collection and collate and evidence best practice. We’ll evaluate the most effective ways to support people experiencing homelessness into the PRS. This evidence will be shared with politicians and housing providers to influence system-wide reform for tenants and landlords.

We look forward to sharing stories and updates as the partnership progresses.