11th
Jun 2024
Generation Rent activists are demanding that the shelved Renters Reform Bill must be drastically changed because of the issue of homelessness numbers and the cost of temporary accommodation that tries to address the crisis.
The activists claims that 25% of local councils across England are having to spend as much as 5% of its core budget to house the homeless in temporary accommodation; it cites private landlords evicting tenants for adding to the crisis.
Generation Rent states that of 249 local councils around 59 are having to spend at least £5 in every £20 of their Core Spending Power on temporary accommodation.
And 20 of those councils spent at least £1 in every £10 during 2022/23 on families and households in temporary accommodation.
The group is calling for the next government to upgrade the shelved Renters Reform Bill and bring about a new version of the bill “as a matter of urgency.”
Ben Twomey, chief executive of Generation Rent, says: “The shocking strain that the cost of temporary accommodation now has on local councils is totally preventable. Where once people were able to find safe and affordable homes, we are now living in total insecurity, within a cruel and broken system.
“Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions remain a leading cause of homelessness in our country.
“Now, more than ever, private renters need a new law to end these unfair evictions and grant us the proper protections we need to keep us safe from homelessness.
“After many delays and watering-down of the Bill, the government scrapped the Renters Reform Bill after calling the election.
“The Bill was already not in a fit state to offer renters the vital protections that they need, yet further delays mean that renters will continue to be driven into temporary accommodation. It is now a matter of urgency that the next government introduce these long-overdue reforms to make renting work for the millions of private renters and the local communities being saddled with spiralling temporary accommodation costs.”
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