The head of a left-wing group has criticised what he calls “slum landlordism”.

Ben Cooper – head of the Fabian Society housing group – writes on the left-wing blog Labour List about that sector of private landlords operating properties used as emergency temporary accommodation. 

Typically these are properties used for those at risk of homelessness, and they mostly fall outside of the regulations that govern the mainstream private rental sector. 

Cooper says the Home Office needs these properties fo, amongst ohers, destitute asylum seekers awaiting a decision, prison leavers, older people with support needs, and women at risk of domestic violence.

He writes: “The amount of taxpayers’ money involved in this crucial activity is enormous – and has grown in recent years due to the housing crisis. 

“Around £2.8 billion a year is spent on temporary accommodation. A further £2.7 billion is spent on asylum accommodation, with hundreds of millions being spent specifically on housing. 

“An effectively unknown amount is being paid to providers of supported housing that is ‘exempt’ from the cap on housing benefit.”

He says that as a result of this, landlords operating in this sector significant profits, and he claims successful businesses have been built on owning large numbers of poor quality homes, or acting as a middleman who can lease properties from landlords. 

“Yet these profit-making activities have been subject to very little official scrutiny or regulation. The state effectively guarantees rent payment in return for a home, but rarely gets a good deal for tenants or for taxpayers” he says.

He goes on to say: “There is a new generation of slum landlords across the country who exploit people’s need for housing, just like their Victorian and post-war counterparts. Except this time, the state is funding them – and being ripped off by them. 

“Slum landlords have found a ‘magic money tree’. They make substantial profits, in return for homes that fall into disrepair and which harm those who have no choice but to live there. 

“Slum landlords also have a major effect on many communities. In many places where this housing dominates, their poor quality contributes to a sense of neighbourhood decline and to people’s feeling that the country is broken. Taxpayers are effectively funding this decline. It is a slum landlord subsidy.”

You can read the full piece here: https://labourlist.org/2026/09/ben-cooper-end-the-slum-landlord-subsidy/