Hackney Council has experienced a significant drop in its success rate for preventing homelessness, with a 29% decrease in successful prevention and relief outcomes reported in the first four months of the 2026/27 financial year compared to the same period in 2025/26. The meeting identified eviction from the private rented sector, being asked to leave by family or friends, and fleeing domestic abuse as the three biggest causes of homelessness in Hackney.
The figures were revealed during a Housing and Homelessness Scrutiny Commission meeting where councillors discussed the council's Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation Supply Transformation Programme. Officers attributed the decline, in part, to private landlords exiting the market following the introduction of the Renters' Rights Act.
Councillor Abi Kingston, Deputy Cabinet Member for Homelessness Prevention and Temporary Accommodation, stated that the Renters' Rights Act had an unintended consequence
of making private landlords reluctant to rent out their properties, or to low-income households. As Councillor Kingston explained, private landlords no longer want to rent out their properties. Or if they do want to rent out their properties, they don't want to take the risk of renting it out to a low income household.
This has made it significantly harder for the council to secure private rented accommodation for families facing homelessness. The meeting also noted that in the build-up to the Renters' Rights Act, there was a massive spike in the number of Section 21 notices that were served.
The programme, established two years ago, aims to tackle the root causes of homelessness, improve the supply of temporary accommodation, and reduce the council's reliance on expensive nightly-paid options. It encompasses three key workstreams: Demand Management, Supply, and Income. The programme's structure and aims are illustrated in the flowchart below.
Under Demand Management, efforts are being made to understand the causes of homelessness and implement interventions to prevent it. However, the success of these interventions has been impacted by the shrinking private rented sector. The council is reviewing its offer to landlords, making sure that we can increase the number of people that we successfully prevent.
This includes exploring what is our offer to landlords? So I don't just mean the financial offer. It's around what are the benefits of working with the council? You know, how can we help in terms of tenancy sustainment around perhaps rental insurance? How can we make that household an attractive offer for that landlord?
The Supply workstream focuses on increasing the availability of cost-effective temporary accommodation. Hackney is investing £145 million in its capital programme for 2026/27 to acquire properties within the borough and neighbouring areas. This investment is intended to deliver cost avoidance benefits compared to nightly paid accommodation
and aims to increase the supply of cost-effective Temporary Accommodation by delivering on deals, adding new resource and prioritise limited resources.
The investment is enabling the council to deliver all manner of property deals for temporary accommodation, whether that is buying back X rights to buy properties in the borough, looking at opportunities to take out lease deals on newly built blocks of accommodation, expanding our hostel portfolio within the borough, and making best use of the borough as well and making best use of the properties on our regeneration estates as well.
Despite this, the availability of suitable properties within Hackney remains limited due to high house prices.
The Income workstream aims to maximise income from central government by reducing housing benefit subsidy loss. This includes aligning temporary accommodation rents with current Local Housing Allowance (LHA) 2024 levels, meaning rents in TA match the LHA rates used by the national government to determine the housing element payment of Universal Credit and the Housing Benefit rates.
These rents are therefore assessed as affordable
for tenants. The council is also exploring the transfer of temporary accommodation management to the council's housing company to legally bypass subsidy loss limitations
and to increase the income that we get from central government.
While specific challenges are not detailed, the process is described as involving very detailed preparations
and nearing completion, with legal agreements that are currently being drafted.
Despite the challenges, the council has been successful in keeping a large proportion of households in temporary accommodation within London and close to Hackney, a feat officers noted as a success when compared to other London boroughs. However, the report highlights that the average waiting time for a two-bedroom social housing property for a household in temporary accommodation is estimated to be 10 to 12 years. This is due to only about 300 family sized properties each year
becoming available. The council's strategy to address this is to help more families move on from temporary accommodation into long-term settled accommodation,
which is a key priority.
During the meeting, councillors raised concerns about the quality of temporary accommodation, the impact of placing families out of borough, and the effectiveness of prevention strategies. Officers assured the commission that regular inspections are conducted and efforts are made to keep families within London and close to Hackney. The council is also working to mitigate subsidy loss through various means, including acquisitions and potential use of the housing company. The council is also working on how we can be out in the community more so we can hopefully reach people at an earlier point
and strengthening partnerships with voluntary sector organisations and other public bodies.
