Care Leavers have access to resources like their Setting Up Home Allowance and Charitable Schemes that can help with deposit costs. However, these take time to be accessed and can only be agreed when there is a solid plan in place. This means young people end up missing out on rental opportunities that are snapped up by peers or professionals with accessible funds.

At Freedom Futures, we don’t think it’s fair that young people should miss out because of systems outside their control. Therefore, we are happy to accept a signed ‘deposit in principle’ where the young person and their Personal Advisor can evidence how deposit funds will follow. If a young person meets all other eligibility criteria, then we want them to be able to move in on their timeline in lieu of deposit funds.

Freedom Futures is specifically designed for Care Leavers claiming Universal Credit. We understand the complexities of the welfare system and will do all we can to work with each young persons’ individual circumstances. We are not contracted by the Local Authority, so we have the flexibility and adaptability to respond quickly and creatively when unexpected issues arise. Our unique model means that we absorb the ‘risk’ of letting to a tenant in receipt of benefits, while the landlord deals directly with a professional letting agent.

Many semi-supported accommodations aimed at Care Leavers issue ‘licence agreements’ which do not give young people the same legal protections and rights as other agreements. We think it’s important that Care Leavers are issued with an agreement that prioritises their needs, rather than those of the housing provider.

One of the uniques aspects of Freedom Futures is that we look for ways to leverage every opportunity to benefit Care Leavers. We are dedicated to ensuring that our tenants eventually move on from Freedom Futures with more confidence, skills, and resources than when they arrived.

An easy win in this area is to use the time that young people are living with us to help grow their finances. All young people pay a rental deposit, which is protected in an approved Tenancy Deposit Scheme in accordance with the Housing Act 2004. Freedom Futures matches the deposit amount in high-interest savings so that it can accrue interest over the duration of the tenancy. At the the end of the tenancy Freedom Futures returns the young person’s original deposit (minus any agreed deductions) plus the accrued interest.

Our hope is that this will support our tenants with deposit costs on their next property, or act as the beginnings of a nest egg for home ownership in the future.

We want every Freedom Futures tenant to leave with a detailed landlord reference to enhance their future rental applications. The benefit of getting to know our tenants well means that we can also provide references for job, college and university applications to support young people towards achieving their goals.