Will the Green Homes Grant leave renters out in the cold?
Earlier this month, the Chancellor announced £2bn of funding through a Green Homes Grant to insulate homes. Poor insulation is a huge issue for private renters: one in 10 of us live in a home that is unacceptably cold – that’s twice the rate among home owners and social tenants.
But it’s not easy to get landlords to make these improvements – landlords have no incentive to reduce energy bills that someone else pays, and tenants have no idea how long they’ll live somewhere to benefit from better insulation.
The Government has protected jobs, now it’s time to protect homes
Coronavirus has created a rent debt crisis. The Government must act now to ensure #NoHomeAtRisk.
Generation Rent appoints new Director
Generation Rent has appointed Alicia Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy, as its new Director. Alicia joins Generation Rent at a time when coronavirus has pushed renting even further up the political agenda: more than half of renters have lost income, and while evictions are suspended until August, state support is not enough to cover rent in many cases, leaving renters reliant on the goodwill of their landlords to avoid suffocating debt.
After the eviction ban: what’s next?
The Government recently announced a two month extension to the eviction ban. Renters will be able to safely stay in their homes until the end of August, but what happens next?
Lockdown is ending, but the renting crisis is not
The Government’s eviction ban comes to an end in just three weeks. Here’s how you can help protect renters for the duration of this crisis.
Relying on compassion isn’t working
The Government have asked landlords to show ‘compassion’ and work with tenants to accommodate their circumstances, but renters have told us that this is not happening.
Coronavirus: Here’s what we are asking the Government
No one should face eviction and homelessness in a pandemic, and no one should be saddled with debts that they have no way of paying.
A housing system for renters after COVID19
The past six weeks fighting this pandemic have reminded everyone how important a good home is – and how many renters don’t have one.
We won! Greater protections for renters
In the last 7 days, the Government have introduced new measures to protect renters.
How to protect renters affected by coronavirus
The Government must act now.
The pandemic affects us all – but private renters face particular problems. As the situation has escalated, renters have got in touch with us to express concern over self isolating safely in a shared house, and how they will pay their rent if they are forced to stay home, or lose their job. It’s not just those who fall ill with coronavirus who are affected – many renters who are self-employed or on zero-hours contracts have already lost work, and many more are nervous about redundancy, unpaid leave or losing hours. Renters spend over 40% of their earnings on rent, and as a result, two thirds of renters have no savings.