Making Homelessness History – ‘Holding the Keys’

EHG Property is a Social Lettings Agency dedicated to finding homes for the homeless in the private sector. It is committed to supporting the homeless through ‘being family’ and doing its best to ensure nobody gets left behind. It believes that by working with partners it can make homelessness history and is inviting landlords and investors who have a social conscience to join its vision.

We are working with many who are broken and have almost given up hope. They don’t come with references or large amounts of money for deposits and rent upfront, but with the right relational support and a simplified way forward with us, we know we can make it work with them. 

There is a dire shortage of property that is affordable, available and sustainable in the private sector. This makes it extremely difficult for anyone on a very restricted income to get a foot back on the bottom rung of the ladder. There is quite simply nowhere for them to go, at least nowhere semi-decent. 

Landlords can afford to be choosy about who they rent their property to, and may not be willing to take people on benefits because of possible delays in getting paid and fears associated with those who are struggling to find a framework for their lives. 

Many either get stuck and the system grinds to a halt, or they end up falling back below the housing line and going round again in circles with the same faces continually accessing our homeless services. It is often not their fault. It is the system that is broken.

At EHG Property we are determined that something needs to be done to change this. We are aiming to make homelessness history but we cannot do this alone. This can only be achieved together with investors and with landlords from the private sector who have a social conscience. People prepared to take a smaller slice of the pie for themselves - though not necessarily substantially smaller.

This will enable us to make more accommodation available at a price that is truly affordable to the people we really care about. They deserve better. 

We are looking for properties that we can rent from owners on guaranteed rent schemes where we will rent the property and then make them available as shared accommodation at Local Housing Allowance rates. 

The rental income to the owner is not a full commercial rental but it remains sufficiently competitive to make it an attractive proposition when coupled with the social return of being a part of making homelessness history and transforming lives. Together, the property business holds the keys to ending homelessness. Note: EHG Property is part of the Enterprise Homes Group, a newly formed charitable business that has, for the first time, brought five steams of homelessness activity together, forming a unified and supported pathway back into renewed life.