Eviction Ban Return? Labour wants it for furloughed workers

Labour shadow housing secretary Lucy Powell has resuscitated the eviction ban, this time for furloughed workers whose government support ends in the coming weeks.

Powell has told the I newspaper: “Rather than leave furloughed workers out on a limb, the government must work with us to extend and strengthen the evictions ban, and bring forward emergency legislation to provide safe, secure housing for private tenants by ending ‘no fault’ evictions and reforming the evictions process around rent arrears.”

Her comments follow the publication of figures produced by the Labour Party claiming that  686,030 people still on furlough are living in what is described as “insecure private rented accommodation and are at risk of losing their jobs when the support scheme ends.”

Furlough was introduced back in April 2020 in a bid to support jobs during successive lockdowns.

The government’s contribution has fallen from 80 per cent of the wages of people who were furloughed, to 60 per cent now.

The furlough scheme has been extended four times already but with the pandemic impact lessening it appears likely the scheme will end for good on September 30.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak both said recently that they do not want to extend furlough again.

A survey of buy to let customers using the Paragon Bank recently showed that the number of private landlords’ tenants in arrears was actually its lowest for a decade, despite the pandemic.

You can see the i story here.