Thangam Debbonaire – 2020 Comments on Housing Benefit Discrimination

The text of the speech made by Thangam Debbonaire, the Shadow Housing Minister, on 14 July 2020.

With increased numbers of people forced into the benefits system because of the economic impact of the Coronavirus crisis and the Government’s failure to push forward emergency legislation to help people to keep their homes after the temporary ban on evictions ends in August, there will be many people who will be faced with looking for a new home in the private rented sector this Autumn. With this in mind, this landmark ruling must help to protect those people from discrimination by some rogue landlords refusing to take them on as tenants.

The Government needs to ensure that this finding will be properly enforced as an end to this discrimination and disseminated to all relevant landlords and organisations in order to protect people from losing their home.