PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR REVIEW: MAXIMISING THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF THE PRIVATE RENTED SECTOR TO PREVENT AND RELEIVE HOMELESSNESS

Please note that this webinar is not a formal expression of interest and any resulting future opportunities from this notice may be a closed invitation Request for Quotation (RfQ) opportunity.

The WMCA Homelessness Taskforce was established in 2017 with the aim to design out homelessness, in all its forms. The WMCA has no statutory duties, powers or resources around homelessness, but in designing out homelessness, is committed to identifying and tackling the structural, policy and operational factors that either cause or fail to prevent homelessness.

We are clear that the current operation of the Private Rented Sector (PRS) plays a critical role in causing homelessness and at the same time it is often the only option open to Local Authorities as they seek to prevent or relieve homelessness. Given the size of the PRS across the country and region this is not going to change in the foreseeable future, so we want to focus on helping our Local Authority partners to try and make best use of the sector.

Our aim is to develop an evidence-based understanding of the sector across the WMCA Region. So that we can understand how it is working, if it can be made a more affordable and secure option for tenants and whether housing and landlord standards can be raised effectively. Alongside this, we want to understand how the market is currently functioning, motivations of landlords, how we can support good landlords, experiences and aspirations of tenants, the impact of LHA rises and other policy changes on the PRS and an assessment of the sectors' potential for positive change.

We require a set of clear recommendations for future action including: • Policy changes we might lobby for nationally • Practice changes we can promote regionally and locally • Options for cross regional activity we can lead from the WMCA

The WMCA will be holding a webinar via MS Teams on Tuesday 12th November 2024 at 2.00pm. The webinar will last up to one hour and outline what we want to achieve with this project. There will also be opportunity for questions to be raised by suppliers during the webinar. The webinar will be recorded and shared with attendees.

If you are interested in attending this webinar and hearing more about this opportunity then please confirm by emailing [email protected] before 12:00pm on Monday 11th November 2024. We will forward a Teams invite to all suppliers who have confirmed they are interested in attending the webinar after the deadline above.

Please note, this is not a formal expression of interest in a tender exercise. This notice is being used purely for suppliers to confirm their interest in attending our webinar and hearing more about this opportunity. The webinar is an information gathering exercise rather than a call for competition and therefore publication or response does not commit WMCA or respondents to a future procurement, nor provide any process exemptions or preferential treatment to any parties expressing an interest.