The single biggest cause of homelessness today is loss of tenancy – in other words, an eviction. An increasing number of these are “no-fault evictions” – meaning the landlord need not give any reason why they are turfing someone out of their home.
This year, a study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research found that 80% of private-sector evictions in 2015 occurred under these provisions, which fall under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988.
A tenant can’t appeal against a section 21 eviction unless they can demonstrate it was retaliation for complaints made about problems in their home and that their home was unsafe to live in. The Guardian has reported on people being evicted under section 21 for reasons as minor as asking for hot water.
The rise in this type of eviction has accompanied an out-of-control housing market that increasingly works in favour of the landlord. In the last eight years, loss of a tenancy has increased threefold. According to the English Housing Survey, a branch of the Department for Communities and Local Government that collects data on people’s housing circumstances, 63% of evictions happen when a landlord wants to sell up or use the property for a different purpose.
After a certain period, enshrined in short-term tenancy agreements, residents can be given just two months’ notice. What happens after that depends largely on luck. Because it is technically an eviction, the tenant may not be looked upon kindly by their local authority – they may even be seen as having made themselves “intentionally homeless”, in which case they won’t be entitled to support from the council and so might find themselves sleeping on sofas or the streets.
Pauline is living in temporary accommodation, a redbrick house in a north Wales resort, with nine children aged between three and 17. She moved to the area from the north-west of England when a relationship broke down. “It was move or risk losing the kids,” she says.
The family has lived in nine houses in six years. Over that period, some of the children have been in six different schools; one has missed three years of education. “It’s not fair on them,” she says. The family was evicted from one private house on a section 21 notice and had just a fortnight to get out.
Her present house, which the council found for them in June, has five bedrooms and the three youngest have to share a room, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. “It’s hard. I can be fighting with them until 11.30pm to get them to sleep. I have never been able to get them into a proper routine. You get into one and then you’re moving. Everything goes back to square one, over and over again.
Pauline’s three youngest have to share a room, sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
Kelsie’s second child, Cory, arrived three months early and she and her husband, Shaun, put that down to stress. “I’m on edge; I don’t feel happy,” says Kelsie, who has depression and anxiety. A double bed almost fills the chalet’s living area. Beside it is Cory’s moses basket, while Phoebe sleeps in the bedroom. The family lives on microwave meals and what they can rustle up on a portable electric hob in the galley kitchen.
‘It could be months, perhaps years, before we get a place …’ Shaun outside the chalet complex where his family is housed.
They try to create a sense of normality for Phoebe, sitting her at the table for meals while the adults perch on the double bed. There is no bath, only a small shower room crammed with piles of washing. They work desperately hard to keep the place tidy, fearing they could be thrown out if a spot check finds they are neglecting the chalet. They do not know their neighbours and feel isolated. When there is an event at the Pontins holiday park behind the chalet they hear the sound of people partying and arguing in the car park.
The couple were put into emergency B&B accommodation before being moved to the chalet. Shaun has since found work as a labourer and is employed building student apartments in Chester. The couple have worked hard to pay off the rent arrears and are on the housing list. “But we have been told it could be months, perhaps years, before we get a place,” says Shaun. They have been advised to go back to the private sector, but believe their problems at their last place will count against them.
As a young man, Tim worked in a coalmine in Staffordshire and managed to buy a house in Shropshire. But then he and his wife split up and he moved to north Wales so that his family could help him bring up his young son.
Tim was living with his father, but after his death he was told he had to leave as the tenancy agreement was in his father’s name. He had been working as a labourer at a quarry and as a security guard, but he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He had his big toes amputated and underwent vein bypass surgery.
Tim moved into a private flat, but when he had to cut his hours because of his ill health, he could not afford the rent. Facing a section 21 notice, he moved out. He briefly lived with a relative until they moved out of the area and ended up sleeping in a car lent to him by his boss at the cleaning company where he now works part-time.
Tim is now living in B&B accommodation. He can only work around 11 hours a week because of his ill health. “It’s frustrating. I’ve worked all my life. I used to work more than 80 hours a week. To have to cut it down to just 11 is soul-destroying. I won’t live on the dole. I might be better off if I did, but it’s so boring.
“I’m applying for jobs every day. The GP has said I shouldn’t work because my feet aren’t healed properly. I can’t do it – I’ve got to work. Sitting down all day does my head in.
Siaron putting her belongings into storage before moving into temporary accommodation with her 10 year old daughter, Caitlin, late last year.
Siaron and her daughter had to leave their home in July 2015 after a relationship broke down. They found a private two-bedroom bungalow in a north Wales resort, where they enjoyed some sort of stability. On the day her section 21 notice arrived, Siaron had been to a job club to discuss her dream of setting up a company hiring out vintage props. “I was buzzing; then I opened the letter and was deflated,” she says.
Thanks to the charity Shelter Cymru – which has worked with all the people in this article – eviction day was delayed and Siaron managed to get into band one of the housing list, meaning their need was judged urgent. A housing association home was found, but there was a delay and Siaron and her daughter had to move into B&B accommodation.
“It was on the seafront. The blinds were blowing in with the wind and an 8ft-tall wardrobe almost fell on Caitlin. It didn’t feel safe at all.” The rules were stringent – the doors were shut at 11pm and not opened again until the morning. They were separated from their pets – guinea pigs, rabbits and cats – and had to share a toilet and shower with two other families.