Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 4
1st Report - Protecting rough sleepers and renters: Interim Report
Published 22 May 2020
Paragraph 24
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on homelessness and the private rented sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Unless the Government amends existing housing legislation, its plans to introduce a pre-action protocol to the private rented sector will be toothless and will fail to prevent a cliff edge of evictions once the moratorium on possession cases ends. We recommend the Government bring forward legislation to amend the 1985 and 1988 Housing Acts to allow judges to use discretion where a tenant is in rent arrears due to the coronavirus crisis for the next 12 months at a minimum. Discretion could include consideration of whether a pre-action protocol has been complied with. These amendments should be delivered through a short Bill—such as we have proposed—which must be introduced to Parliament as soon as possible.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, 1st Report - Protecting rough sleepers and renters: Interim Report (HC 309), paragraph 24, 22 May 2020
Government response
Government Response to the Committee's report on Protecting Rough Sleepers and Renters
The government responded to the whole report on 30 June 2020 (deadline 22 July 2020).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government agrees that the momentum on supporting rough sleepers "must not be lost" and sets out measures taken, while committing to tenancy reform "in due course" rather than on the Committee's timetable.
- On a housing-led solution, it "agrees that for many rough sleepers a housing-led solution with provision for wrap-around support is required", citing £160 million in 2020/21 to support up to 6,000 rough sleepers into longer term accommodation, with 3,300 units available in the next 12 months.
- On Housing First, it will consider the findings of its evaluation together with the pilot outcomes, which "will therefore help to inform the next steps for the programme".
- On evictions, it points to existing measures and says it is "exploring a number of options, including a pre-action protocol" for possession claims by private landlords. The response does not commit to the legislation the Committee proposed.
- On abolishing section 21, it "remains committed to tenancy reform" but will proceed "at the appropriate time", and expects to respond fully to the consultation "once the urgent concerns of this emergency have passed".
Government Response to the Committee's interim report on protecting rough sleepers
Published 30 June 2020.