On November 10, 2025, the UK charity Crisis took a bold step that marks a significant change in its long history: it announced plans to become a landlord for the first time. The move, described by chief executive Matt Downie as the "only option left," comes amid an escalating homelessness crisis in England that has left nearly 300,000 families and individuals experiencing the worst forms of homelessness—a staggering 21% increase since 2022, according to new research published by Crisis and reported by BBC and The Guardian.
For decades, Crisis has worked to support people experiencing homelessness, but never before has it directly owned housing stock. Now, with the shortage of social housing reaching critical levels and the private rental market increasingly out of reach for those in need, the charity is preparing to purchase at least 1,000 homes in London and Newcastle in its initial phase. The plan is ambitious: Crisis expects to begin buying properties in the coming months, with the first tenants moving in during 2026. If successful, the program could expand to other cities.
“There’s now a backlog for social housing with waiting lists of more than a million people,” Downie told BBC. “Local councils just can’t cope with that level of demand for their services.” He highlighted the “systematic sell-off of social housing,” which he said began under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s and has continued under every government since. The result? A social housing system buckling under pressure, and providers like Crisis forced to take extraordinary measures simply to give people somewhere safe to live.
The scale of the problem is daunting. Crisis’ research, produced in partnership with Herriot-Watt University, found that nearly 300,000 families and individuals are enduring the harshest forms of homelessness. These include rough sleeping, sofa surfing, and living in tents, cars, sheds, or other unconventional and often unsafe places. The research also revealed that official government data underestimates the true extent of homelessness, as it only counts those who have declared themselves homeless to local authorities—a process many avoid or are unable to navigate.
The charity’s findings show that the number of households placed in unsuitable temporary accommodation has more than doubled in just four years, jumping from 19,200 in 2020 to 46,700 in 2024. In addition, 18,600 households are now living in unconventional accommodation, such as cars, sheds, and tents. These figures paint a stark picture of a system at breaking point, with thousands left in limbo, far from family and friends, and often in unsafe conditions.
One such story is that of Isra, who arrived in the UK as a six-year-old in 2009 after her family fled war in Iraq. For most of her childhood, Isra and her family moved through more than ten different temporary accommodation locations across London. “We were sometimes sleeping four to a room, and the places we were housed in were often infested with rats,” she told BBC. She recalled her mother “sifting through bags of rice because there were so many rats, we’d found rat droppings in our food.” The instability and poor conditions made it difficult for Isra to make friends at school or focus on her studies—a reality faced by countless children in similar situations.
Behind these personal stories lies a broader policy debate. The UK government has responded to the crisis with significant pledges: more than £1 billion is being invested in homelessness services this year, and a £39 billion commitment over the next decade aims to deliver around 300,000 homes through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme. Of these, at least 60% are promised to be social housing—properties owned by not-for-profit housing associations or local councils, with rents linked to local incomes.
Government officials have described the initiative as “the biggest boost to social housebuilding in a generation.” A spokesperson said, “Everyone deserves a safe place to call home, which is why we are investing more than £1bn in homelessness services and launching a homelessness strategy to tackle this issue. This is alongside accelerating efforts to tackle the root causes of homelessness by abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, and expanding access to safe accommodation.”
Yet, many in the sector, including Crisis’ Matt Downie, remain cautious. Downie welcomed the funding but warned, “Unless a big proportion of that is social housing and there are spades in the ground now, then there’s no hope any time soon of us having the housing that’s needed as demand increases.” He also called for housing benefit to be updated to reflect the true cost of private renting, a change he argues is vital for preventing more people from falling into homelessness.
Labour, the main opposition party, has also made homelessness a key part of its platform. Its 2024 election manifesto promised a new cross-government homelessness strategy, pledging to work closely with mayors and councils across the country “to put Britain back on track to ending homelessness.” Some Labour figures have voiced concern that such a strategy has yet to be launched, but it is expected before the end of 2025.
Meanwhile, the pressure on local councils continues to mount. With more than one million people now on social housing waiting lists, councils are struggling to meet demand. Many are forced to place people in temporary accommodation—often far from their original communities or in substandard conditions—while they wait for a permanent home. The backlog has grown so severe that, according to Downie, “homelessness providers have to do something extraordinary, which is outside of what we were normally set up to do, in order to make sure people have got somewhere to live.”
The government’s approach includes abolishing Section 21 “no fault” evictions—a move that has been welcomed by many campaigners as a step towards greater security for renters. However, critics argue that without a dramatic increase in the supply of genuinely affordable homes, such measures will only go so far.
As the debate continues, the lived reality for many remains unchanged. Thousands are still sleeping in unsafe, unsuitable, or temporary accommodation, with little hope of a stable home in the near future. The story of Isra and her family is echoed by many others, all waiting for a solution that seems, for now, just out of reach.
Crisis’ decision to enter the housing market as a landlord is a sign of just how extraordinary the times have become. It’s a move born of necessity, not choice—a testament to the scale of the crisis and the determination of those fighting to end it. Whether it will be enough to turn the tide remains to be seen, but for many, it offers a glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape.
