To get people off the streets, Philip Hammond, help homeless people rent

Imagine you are homeless. Because social housing in our country is shrinking one of the only ways you can get a home is by privately renting.

But you have escaped domestic violence; perhaps you have lost your job or been through a relationship breakdown and found yourself in a downward spiral with little support. You certainly have no money for a deposit and a private landlord is highly unlikely to rent to you.

Where do you turn? How do you even begin to get back on your feet? The chancellor must address these urgent questions in his autumn budget.

Private renting is quickly becoming one of the only places someone who is homeless can find a home – but just a fifth of landlords would consider renting to someone who is homeless. Thousands of vulnerable people trying to move on from homelessness have no way of finding a home when deposits can demand more than £1,000, and problems with roll-out of universal credit, fraught with delays in payments, are putting landlords off even further, with just two in 10 private landlords saying they would rent to people receiving universal credit.

That’s why we urgently need to commit funds into schemes that help homeless people rent and get their foot in the door in the first place with a deposit guarantee scheme. Help to rent initiatives help vulnerable people with upfront costs and to maintain their rents each month. They also provide support to landlords, making it less risky for them to rent to people struggling with their finances.

They also provide a long-term answer to ending homelessness. There are more than 160,000 homeless households in Britain and our research shows this could double by 2041 if nothing is done.

Most councils in England provide some form of provision to help homeless people into the private rented sector, but these schemes vary widely in what they offer and to whom. That’s why we’re calling for a more consistent provision.

We know this approach works. In schemes already up and running, 90% of tenancies lasted more than six months. That means fewer people being forced to go to their local authority for help, taking pressure off council services. This is more important than ever, since under the new Homelessness Reduction Act due next April, councils will have a duty to help thousands more homeless people and will need proper support and funding to create new options for homeless people.

Many landlords are understandably anxious about renting to homeless people – they worry about whether these tenants will be able to pay the rent or will need more support compared with other tenants.

When landlords feel supported they become far more likely to rent to homeless people. In fact, 80% of landlords said they would rent to someone on benefits through one of these schemes. And the schemes have the full support of the two largest landlord bodies in the country – the National Landlords Association and the Residential Landlords Association.

It also makes economic sense. We are asking the government through our Home: no less will do campaign, for £31m for help to rent schemes, and we estimate that we could help up to 32,000 households a year.

We cannot ignore this problem any longer. In 2017, no one should face homelessness when we know this crisis can be solved. With the right support, private renting can be a way out of homelessness - and help prevent it in the first place.

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