Homelessness prevention by City of Edinburgh Council's PRS prevention team

Dedicated PRS prevention team

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The context

Since 2010, the main cause of statutory homelessness in England has been loss of a private let. In Scotland, relationship breakdown has consistently taken that place. In 2019-20, landlord-initiated tenancy loss in all tenures accounted for 13% of applications, compared to 24% ‘asked to leave’, and 19% homeless due to a non-violent dispute. We can’t accurately quantify those made homeless by private landlords in HL1 statistics. But as we know social sector evictions are comparatively low, we can assume most households homeless due to ‘other action by landlord’ were private tenants.

In Edinburgh, where over a quarter of households rent privately, the sector contributes significantly to homelessness. It was therefore fitting that City of Edinburgh Council’s (CEC) first RRTP set plans for a PRS prevention team to start turning this around.

The intervention

CEC’s PRS prevention team formed in 2020. It contains a team leader, four officers, and a Financial Inclusion PRS Officer. The team’s focus is to support tenants and landlords to address any issues which may lead to tenancy breakdown and to assist households to find a suitable alternative home where a tenancy isn’t salvageable. The team works with all households seeking housing options and/or homelessness advice who have a current private let. In many cases, households present after receiving a notice to quit/leave a private tenancy.

Officers check notice validity, and investigate reasons for it being served with the landlord or agency (reasons stated are not always the actual reason for a notice being served). Where arrears or other financial problems are undermining the tenancy, the Financial Inclusion PRS Officer can offer welfare rights advice and assistance, help tenants apply for grants and provide links into employability services. The team also has a fast-track access to Discretionary Housing Payments and flexible use of a homelessness prevention fund. Officers also offer negotiation, advice for landlords and referral or signposting to other support for tenants.

Where tenancy loss is not preventable, the team assists households to access an alternative PRS or, if they are in employment, Mid-Market Rented (MMR) property in a planned manner, avoiding the need to use temporary accommodation (if this is in line with the household’s wishes). The team has partnership pathways into MMR options, and works jointly with Crisis Help to Rent which offers property find, deposit bond and support for tenants. The team can call on various funds to assist people into a PRS if a bond isn’t accepted. The team continues to work with households who go onto apply as homeless and use temporary accommodation if they would still like to access PRS or MMR.

The outcome

In its first 15 months, the team worked with 324 households, preventing homelessness for 225 of those (69%). Around a quarter were able to stay in their home, with 75% assisted into an alternative PRS or MMR tenancy. 99 other households already assessed as homeless were assisted into a tenancy. Overall, 81 households moved into MMR with the team’s help. The Financial Inclusion PRS Officer helped secure over £50,000 in additional income from benefits awards, backdates and grants for tenants.

Key insights

some people in housing crisis don’t want to apply as homeless and/or don’t have social housing as their ultimate goal: offering supported routes into other tenures widens people’s choice
whilst providing advice and assistance at crisis point has been successful, the team aims to move further ‘upstream’, intervening earlier to increase the number of tenants who can stay in their home
landlords and agencies understand the benefits of the team and usually react positively to joint work to resolve tenancy problems, rather than seeing it as an adversarial, tenant-only service

Find out more…

Karen Stevenson, PRS Team Leader, City of Edinburgh Council
karen.stevenson2@edinburgh.gov.uk