News Archives - Capital Letters

Last year there were 11,880 no-fault evictions in London, an increase of 52% year-on-year.

Based on average occupancy, 27,000 people have been made homeless or put at risk of homelessness in the last year.

That’s enough people to fill half of the Emirates Stadium, or all of The Oval.

There are currently more than 83,000 children living in Temporary Accommodation (TA) in London, and every year, as no-fault evictions rise, that number rises.

All parties must commit to banning “Section 21” no-fault evictions.

No-fault evictions are the biggest cause of homelessness and cost untold amounts in expensive and often inappropriate TA, extra health and education support, extra benefits paid as people struggle to keep jobs, not to mention the reduction in taxes, possibly over a potential lifetime, as employment outcomes worsen for the children stuck in inappropriate and insecure housing.

This isn’t just a “now” problem, for some it becomes a “forever” problem.

Families need a secure foundation to build their best lives, and “Section 21” no-fault evictions take that away.

London rents rose by over 10% in the last 12 months according to the Office of National Statistics.

Whilst this is less than the previous month’s figure of 11%, it remains a significant indication of the pressure London housing is under.

Average rent is now just under £25,000 a year, and the average household income is just over £32,000 a year. There is an obvious difficulty in those numbers – an average family paying the average rent will have, on average, £7,000 a year left over for everything else…

The rental system in London is broken, and that’s where Capital Letters comes in. For the last 6 years we have been building the foundations of a new system that prioritises ethical practice, and societal good – helping Londoners who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness to build lives in secure, stable, affordable and good quality homes.

In the next 2 years, working with our partner Home Safe Housing, we will be providing up to 2,500 homes that our member London boroughs can use to move Londoners out of insecure and poor quality temporary accommodation or provide a home for those threatened with homeless.

And in this new system, everyone wins…

Boroughs save taxpayers money and the wider public purse on the costs of expensive Temporary Accommodation (c£15,000 per annum per family), our investors receive both a financial return and social return on their investment, local areas benefit from refurbished and good quality homes, residents get an affordable, long term, secure, good quality home in which to build a brilliant life, and London benefits – more children get better education, more people are in better health, more people are settled and able to find work and support, costs for the NHS reduce and the cycle goes on.

We can only do this by being proudly not-for-profit, ethical, dynamic and socially responsible – because we know that a home changes everything.

We are proud to be recognised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) as an organisation that is building the foundations for better lives in London.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report “Bringing private homes into social ownership can rewire the housing system” has recognised that the Capital Letters model can be part of the future for London housing.

The report says that…

“central and local governments working together to establish local housing companies in TA ‘hotspots’, which can purchase, retrofit and then let out homes for use as TA at more affordable rents, this would build on the model of Capital Letters…” can be part of reducing costs and raising standards.
“Bringing private homes into social ownership can rewire the housing system” by Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Our work, in a challenging and superheated London rental market, has resulted in over 6,500 homes being offered to our member boroughs meaning over 6,500 households have had the chance to leave temporary accommodation and build the foundation of a healthy and productive life by moving to a private rented home and putting down secure roots.

In the next 2 years Capital Letters in partnership with the housing charity Home Safe Housing will be investing £750m – the current size of the Local Authority Housing Fund – providing up to 2,500 refurbished, high quality rental homes for Londoners. Most of these homes will be offered at LHA rate to those who are experiencing homelessness and are in temporary accommodation.

Settled housing comes with a host of benefits, from improved educational results to improved health and wellbeing. This isn’t about saving money on TA, it’s about saving money in the NHS, in benefits, and increasing employment outcomes, so raising money on taxes, and empowering people to live their best lives.

The last few years have been extremely challenging supplying LHA rate homes. LHA up until April 2024 fell dramatically short of the 30% of local market rates that it was designed to cover, indeed on specific days in London it covered 0.2% of local market. Our inclusion in this report is a testament to the forward-thinking boroughs who created Capital Letters, and of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Capital Letters is a proud disruptor in the housing sector. Since we were founded Capital letters has pushed for systemic change to the way in which the housing and homelessness crisis is addressed, identifying solutions which will result in more homes for Londoners desperately need them.

We are already starting to rewire the housing system by partnering with private ESG investors to provide social and affordable homes as an ethical private landlord.