Almost 26,000 households were made homeless or threatened with homelessness through no-fault evictions in 2023.
This was the highest annual figure ever recorded, according to statistics released today by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
A total of 5,790 households were threatened with homelessness in the last three months of 2023 through the serving of a section 21 notice, a 10.9 per cent increase on the same period in 2022.
Section 21 allows landlords to evict tenants with two months notice without providing a reason and at no fault of the renter — hence the name no-fault eviction.
The Government had promised to outlaw section 21 as part of the Renters Reform Bill.
However, the ban on no-fault evictions has been delayed until reforms to the court systems are enacted to allow landlords greater protections when repossessing their properties.
The homelessness crisis is most acute in London, where 17.4 households in every 1,000 were recorded as living in temporary accommodation on December 31 2023.
Almost 300 Londoners face no-fault evictions every week, according to data from City Hall.
“Every week sees more families evicted and growing pressure on the budgets of councils struggling to meet the rising cost of homelessness support.”
Newham, in east London, is at the epicentre of the crisis, with 53.1 households in every 1,000 in temporary accommodation. In comparison, only 2.4 households in every 1,000 are being housed temporarily in the rest of England.
Tom Darling, Campaign Manager at the Renters’ Reform Coalition, expressed horror at the figures.
“Shockingly, homelessness statistics in England continues to see new records shattered every few months,” said Darlington. “Every week sees more families evicted and growing pressure on the budgets of councils struggling to meet the rising cost of homelessness support.”
Darlington said the Government’s approach to the Renters Reform Bill was “maddening to watch”.
“Neglected, dropped, picked back up again, delayed, deprioritised, and – finally – gutted of key provisions by a group of pro-landlord MPs,” he said.
“Because of all of this, and other concessions made to landlords, the Renters (Reform) Bill currently on its way to the House of Lords will fail to touch the sides of this crisis. To start putting some of these harrowing homelessness statistics into reverse, the bill needs major surgery in the Lords.”
[We] will ensure that landlords retain confidence in getting properties back when they need to, safeguarding their investment.”
The Renters Reform Coalition is a campaign group that includes homelessness charities Shelter and Crisis, tenant union group ACORN, and Generation Rent campaigners.
A ban on section 21 was included in the Conservative manifesto in 2019, ahead of the last general election.
During a debate in the House of Commons last week, the Under Secretary of State for Housing Jacob Young re-iterated that the ban would go through — once more protections for landlords were included in amendments to the Renters Reform Bill.
“We are also strengthening and expanding landlord possession grants, including stronger protections against anti social behaviour,”
“This, combined with our reforms to create a modern court system, will ensure that landlords retain confidence in getting properties back when they need to, safeguarding their investment.”
