Record levels of tenants being evicted by landlords in Coventry

The number of tenants being evicted by their landlords soared to the highest level on record in Coventry last year.

New government figures reveal that 299 renters in our city had their homes repossessed in 2018.

That’s up by a third compared to the 224 tenants evicted in 2017, and is the highest number recorded since at least 2003, when modern records began.

The figures come at a time when a housing crisis has seen rising levels of homelessness across Coventry.

At the end of June last year - the latest figures available - there were 546 homeless families living in temporary accommodation in our city, including those in hostels and B&Bs.

That’s more than four times as many as the number seen in June 2017, when there were just 119 homeless households in Coventry living in temporary accommodation.

The loss of private rented accommodation is the most common reason for homelessness in Coventry, accounting for nearly half of all cases.

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Polly Neate, chief executive at Shelter, said: “The biggest single cause of homelessness is losing a private tenancy and not being able to find a new rented home.

“The thousands of court evictions that happen each year are alarming enough, but on top of this we know that many more people will go uncounted because they leave out of fear before an eviction notice even hits the mat.

“Every day in our services we see the enormous strain that the threat, let alone the reality, of eviction puts on family life.

“This is made worse by the constant cycle of insecurity in private renting - imagine losing your home and being faced with yet another short-term contract, or worse still, enduring the trauma of raising your family in temporary accommodation because there are no affordable alternatives.

“We need to get serious about supporting struggling families by providing them with genuinely affordable homes that are truly stable and secure.

“That’s why it’s time for the government to back our call for 3.1 million more social homes over the next 20 years.”

Housing

Social housing

However, the rise in evictions seen in Coventry has been driven by a significant increase in tenants being kicked out of social housing.

The number of social rent homes being repossessed nearly doubled from 104 in 2017 to 192 in 2018, while the number of the number of private rent evictions actually fell, from 73 to 60.

In a further 47 cases, landlords in our city evicted their tenants using “accelerated possession”, which is quicker than a normal eviction and doesn’t usually need a court hearing.

This is used when the tenant is near the end of their lease, and it is not possible to split this into private and social landlords.

There are many reasons why a court might order an eviction, but the most common is because the tenant is in serious rent arrears.

The sharp increase seen in social housing evictions in particular suggests ongoing benefit chaos may be behind the rise in repossessions.

A recent BBC Panorama investigation revealed that council tenants on universal credit have on average more than double the rent arrears of those still on housing benefit.

Universal Credit

As of December 2018, there were 6,744 people in Coventry that had been moved onto the new benefits system - up from 1,919 in December 2017, and working out as one in every 53 people in our city.

The system was first introduced in 2013, and was intended to replace six “legacy” benefits, including unemployment benefit, tax credits and housing benefit.

However, there has been ongoing controversy surrounding the roll out of universal credit, thanks to a wealth of problems surrounding the new single benefit.

As well as leaving claimants with nothing to live on during the transition period - which takes longer than a month - many are then finding they are then worse off than they were while on legacy benefits.

Meanwhile, flaws in the system put poorer claimants especially at heightened risk of hunger, debt and rent arrears, ill-health and homelessness.

What did Coventry City Council say?

Councillor Ed Ruane, cabinet member for housing and communities, told CoventryLive: "Tory Ministers have been told over and over again that the roll out of Universal Credit is causing debt, hardship and homelessness, and this dramatic increase is further proof of the devastating impact it is having on people on ordinary incomes, both in and out of work.

"They are paying the price for Tory Ministers ideology and incompetence, as higher rents and cuts to housing benefit since 2010 have ramped up the financial pressures many social housing tenants face.

"Remember when Andy Street said he would make tackling homelessness his top priority, but instead it's turning out to be his biggest failure, when we have a Mayor that won't even acknowledge the impact Tory policies are having in driving up homelessness, it's therefore no surprise that homelessness continues to increase at the dramatic rate it is."

Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, John Healey MP said: “Higher rents and cuts to housing benefit since 2010 have ramped up the financial pressures many social housing tenants face.

“Labour would end the conversion of social rented homes into higher-cost housing costing up to 80% of market rents, and stop the freeze on social security benefits.”