Four things we’re doing to help people facing homelessness in South Wales secure private rented accommodation

Our Crisis Skylight South Wales, based in Swansea, is one of our five support centres for people experiencing homelessness, directly supported by the TDS Charitable Foundation as part of our three-year partnership. Thanks to TDS Charitable Foundation funding, we’ve created specialist roles in our Skylights across Britain to build relationships with private landlords and help our Crisis members (the people we work with experiencing or at immediate risk of being pushed into homelessness) secure good quality, affordable homes in the private rented sector. The partnership is also working to remove the barriers we know exist for many people experiencing homelessness when trying to access housing.

The scale of the homelessness problem in Swansea

An estimated 990 people are facing homelessness in Swansea, including people sleeping rough, squatting, sofa-surfing and living in unsuitable temporary accommodation like shelters, hostels and B&Bs. A further 1,119 people are estimated to be at risk of experiencing homelessness due to an array of factors, including relationship breakdown and a lack of affordable accommodation options, such as social housing.Like much of the UK, average rents in the private-rented sector (PRS) are rising in Swansea, with only 1.2% of one-bed homes in Swansea affordable at local housing allowance (housing benefit) rates.

Here are four ways our partnership with the TDS Charitable Foundation is already helping to change lives and fight homelessness in South Wales…

1. Providing specialist Housing Access support

TDS Charitable Foundation provides funding for five Housing Access Specialist roles across England and Wales. In each area, their job is to forge connections with local landlords and to source affordable, high-quality private-rented accommodation for Crisis members.

Since our partnership with the TDS Charitable Foundation began in July 2024, Jo Lewis (Housing Access Specialist) at our Skylight South Wales has directly supported 42 people experiencing homelessness into private rented accommodation – and prevented six more from being pushed into homelessness by helping them extend their current tenancies.

2. Building relationships with landlords and letting agents

Crisis Skylight South Wales has developed strong working relationships with a number of letting agencies in Swansea. These relationships have grown over the past few years as a direct result of Jo’s work. Find out more about Crisis' services for landlords.

Jo has successfully linked with a small number of local letting agents who have been open minded in considering Crisis members for housing. These letting agents can offer a patient, understanding approach to tenancy management, with the confidence that the Crisis members are being consistently supported throughout their tenancy by the Skylight team.

Talking about one of these letting agencies, Jo said: “They are kind people who want to help. They have been to the Skylight in South Wales and they plan to volunteer with us. We work closely with them, and they encourage their landlords to work with us too. They want to offer tenancies when they can, are sensitive in their property management role and pull us in to support when needed. A recent example of their helpful approach was rushing through a tenancy sign-up to avoid our member having to spend another night sleeping in her car.”

A recent addition to the Skylight register of landlords shared that they are moving from the student-let market to long-term tenancies. The landlord is opting for tenants suggested by the South Wales Skylight as they recognise that Crisis Skylight staff have had the opportunity to ‘get to know’ the members and can suggest suitable shared accommodation combinations, offer support and arrange direct Universal Credit housing costs payments.

Relationships with letting agents are sustained by being responsive, trustworthy and maintaining regular in-person contact.

In addition, we link in with the National Residential Landlord Association (NRLA) in Wales and have attended and spoken at their roadshow events for landlords, helping us to spread the word about the work that we do here at Crisis.

3. Helping members search for affordable properties

The Housing Access Specialist team at Crisis Skylight South Wales run weekly ‘Homesearch’ sessions, which:

• Give Crisis members ownership and choice in their property searches
• Develop members’ skills and knowledge
• Offer clear guidance on where to search, and on the suitability and affordability of social and private properties
• Give members real agency in ending their homelessness

Every Crisis member works with a lead worker, who will refer them to these sessions once all the necessary preparation is complete (such as benefits in place, bank account and ID documents). The Housing Access Specialist team can then provide advice and guidance on making calls to landlords and social housing providers and how to present at viewings. The support is dependent on members' needs and preferences, and the Housing Access Specialist will often accompany members to property viewings.

4. Partnership working

Crisis Skylight South Wales staff work closely with Swansea’s local council to help Crisis members become financially stable and sustain their new homes in the long term. Crisis members who are assessed by the local council and found to have a ‘local connection’ to the area will hold an open homelessness case with the local authority and also a referral to The Wallich, the council’s commissioned support service for people experiencing homelessness.

Jo identifies appropriate housing options in the private rented sector and works closely with The Wallich throughout the process of finding properties and helping members move in. This joined-up approach ensures Crisis members are well supported from the outset – increasing the likelihood of a stable, successful tenancy and a lasting route out of homelessness.

In addition, our Wales policy teams connect with Jo to ensure that our insights into the difficulties that our members face when searching for private rented accommodation feed into our responses to relevant national inquiries, consultations and research calls. We have also ensured that our Wales supporters are connected in with our campaigning activity to call for the UK Government to restore housing benefit to cover the true cost of rent.

For questions regarding our work with TDS, please email corporatepartnerships@crisis.org.uk