Government has just days left to avoid “homelessness emergency”, says Labour

The Labour Party is warning that the government has just days left to introduce legislation that would prevent a wave of evictions and prevent a “homelessness emergency”.

The government has been told by the opposition that it has until July 16th, given the tight parliamentary timetable, to introduce a bill to stop “homelessness sweeping the country this winter”.

Labour has highlighted that despite its own warnings and those from charities since the start of lockdown, the summer economic update last week “failed to acknowledge the precarious situation for millions of renters”.

Commenting on the crisis, Thangam Debbonaire said: “There are a quarter of a million people at risk of eviction from financial pressures caused by the Covid crisis. While some will be looking forward to a holiday, a growing number will spend the summer worrying about where they will sleep this winter.

“The government’s policies have helped property developers, second home-owners and landlords make money from housing. But they are doing nothing to help thousands in rented accommodation, who may find themselves without anywhere to live later this year.”

A survey by the housing charity Shelter found that 227,000 private renters have fallen into arrears since the start of lockdown in March, while Generation Rent has said that 45,090 households are at serious risk of homelessness this autumn.

The Shadow Housing Secretary added: “We urgently need better support to help people pay their rent, and legal changes to help good tenants keep their homes. Otherwise we will see huge numbers sleeping on the streets this winter.”

Labour has called for a targeted ban on evictions for those who fall behind on their payments due to Covid-19 – it has proposed a temporary change in the law so that non-payment of rent does not count automatically as legal grounds for eviction.

The party has said that the change to the law would apply to 20 million people, or 8.5 million households, who rent their homes from private, council or housing association landlords.

Labour is urging the Conservatives to make this legislative change in addition to its manifesto commitment to scrap section 21 of the Housing Act 1998, which allows for so called ‘no-fault evictions’.

The Tories pledged to repeal this section of legislation as part of their 2019 general election platform but has so far failed to do so. Labour has said that this “broken promise leaves people with no protection from eviction”.