One of the UK’s most significant landlords has announced that he has issued eviction notices to all his tenants that claim housing benefit, and will not accept any more applicants who need housing benefit to pay their rent. Fergus Wilson says that he has based his decision on the widening gap between private rent costs and benefit levels, and the fact that it is impossible to get rent guarantee insurance on housing benefit tenants. Housing charity Shelter says “if this policy continues over the long term, we will see blackspots in the country where people on housing benefit simply cannot find anywhere reasonable”. Click here to read an article in the Guardian on the issue.
In April 2013, the UK government introduced Universal Credit, a single payment for people looking for work or on a low income. The new payment is intended to replace a number of specific benefits, including housing benefit. It is predicted that all claimants will be moved to the Universal Credit system by 2017. This was one of the coalition government’s flagship policies.
There has been concern about the impact of Universal Credit on the total value of benefits that a household is able to receive, because of a cap introduced that would mean many key benefits would not rise in tandem with inflation. Figures released in 2013 by a landlord representative body show that landlords could become more reluctant to let properties to people claiming benefits following the policy change, because the value of the benefit received may decrease and there will not be the option to have the benefit paid directly to the landlord (as is currently the case).
In September 2013, the UN rapporteur on adequate housing Raquel Rolnik said that housing in the UK is deteriorating from a human rights perspective. Click here to read a press statement about her visit to the UK.
In a Huffington Post article, Professor Aoife Nolan of the University of Nottingham argues that if “the actions (or inaction) of private sector actors mean that people cannot access affordable, habitable, accessible and suitably located housing, and the government does not act to prevent or remedy this, the UK will be in violation of its international human rights obligations.” The UK government ratified International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 1976. Article 11(1) of that treaty provides a right to adequate housing. However it has not signed up to or ratified the Optional Protocol to the Covenant that provides a mechanism to complain to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. PILA Bulletin readers may recall that while Ireland has signed the Optional Protocol, it has not ratified it.
Professor Nolan that the Ministry of Justice is currently seeking submissions ahead of a June 2014 periodic report it must make about its adherence to the Covenant. The Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Just Fair Consortium will produce shadow reports around the same time. Click here to read the Huffington Post article.