Letting agents and private landlords could play a greater role in helping councils reduce a record £2.9bn temporary accommodation bill, according to a South Coast agency that has housed more than 500 homeless households in the past year.
SDM Property is expanding its work with councils and landlords after securing 532 tenancies over the past 12 months for single people and families who were homeless or living in emergency or temporary accommodation.
The Southampton-based agency has recently taken on around 10 units in Bournemouth and another three in Portsmouth as it expands the model.
It comes as figures highlighted by homelessness charity Crisis show English councils spent a record £2.9bn on temporary accommodation in the year to March 2026, compared with £1.6bn five years earlier.
LANDLORD ROLE
Some £1.9bn was spent on nightly-paid accommodation, hostels and B&Bs, while 135,580 households were living in temporary accommodation at the end of March.
Mark Vine (main picture, inset), Director of SDM Property, says: “We’re a business and this has to work for the landlord as well as the tenant. But we’ve discovered that an agent can use its relationships with landlords and councils to solve some very real problems in its community.
“This isn’t a migrant accommodation scheme, which is a different area requiring a specialist approach. This is a pragmatic local solution for people in our communities who are homeless or living in emergency or temporary accommodation.
“We’re talking about families living in hotels because they can’t find an affordable rental property, or somebody suddenly facing homelessness because their landlord needs to sell.”
PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS
In one recent case, New Forest District Council approached SDM after a young family was served notice because the owner of their two-bedroom flat wanted to sell.
The agency found an investor prepared to buy the property with the family remaining as tenants, with a price agreed within around two weeks. SDM now manages the tenancy.
Vine says: “The landlord wanted to sell, the tenants wanted to stay, the council wanted to prevent them becoming homeless and another landlord wanted an investment. We brought those interests together and the family kept its home.”
East Hampshire District Council also backs the approach, saying its relationship with SDM has helped it house clients, particularly under-35s struggling to find properties affordable within Local Housing Allowance rates.
AGENTS AND COUNCILS
SDM is now looking for more landlords with suitable properties across Southampton, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and surrounding areas, including those who may previously have ruled out households receiving benefits.
Vine adds: “The PRS can’t solve homelessness on its own. But there are good landlords with homes and local families who desperately need them.
“If agents and councils can bring more of those people together, everybody benefits – including the taxpayer.”
